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RIVERSIDE TEXTBOOKS 
IN EDUCATION 

EDITED BY ELLWOOD P. CUBBERLEY 

PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION 
LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIVERSITY 



DIVISION OF SECONDARY EDUCATION 

UNDER THE EDITORIAL DIRECTION 

OF ALEXANDER INGLIS 

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION 
HARVARD UNIVERSITY 



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HOW CHILDREN LEARN 



FRANK N. FREEMAN, Ph.D. 

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 

A THOR OF " THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE COMMON BRANCHES ! 

"EXPERIMENTAL EDUCATION"; "THE TEACHING 

OF HANDWRITING," ETC. 




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HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 

BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 

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COPYRIGHT, I917, BY FRANK N. FREEMAN 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



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NOV -7 1917 



tE\)t ^ibersftif 5re«S 

CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS 
U . S . A 



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EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

In an earlier number of this series of textbooks the author 
of the present volume presented the psychological principles 
underlying good teaching of the so-called common-school 
branches. Instruction in handwriting, drawing, reading, 
music, spelling, history, geography, mathematics, and the 
sciences were analyzed into types, and the lessons of psy- 
chology applied in a way to be of much help to the teacher 
of these subjects. In the present volume the author takes 
up the growth of the child's mind, and shows how good in- 
struction in any subject and in all parts of the school system 
must be founded on certain general applications of psychol- 
ogy to the teaching process. In reading through the work 
here presented, it is interesting to note how fully all ques- 
tions as to proper mental development of children are re- 
lated to the psychology of the learning process. 

The present volume is a valuable study in applied psychol- 
ogy. It concerns itself primarily with a study of the native 
and acquired responses of children, and the significance of 
these for educational development and for social control. 
It is the purpose of education to deal with these native re- 
sponses of children, stimulating some and repressing others, 
and in addition to develop in children many acquired re- 
sponses which will be valuable to them in later life. In the 
development of the idea that education means the training 
of the child to respond in ways which society has approved 
and men have found useful, the author analyzes the ways 
of responding which are both native and acquired with chil- 
dren, as these relate to their play, imitation of others, self- 
assertion, social attitudes, use of language, the acquirement 



vi EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

of skills, perceptions, association and memorizing, and the 
thinking process. He then formulates the general principles 
of mental growth in children, devotes a chapter to a care- 
ful analysis of the much-debated question of the transfer of 
training, and concludes with a valuable chapter on mental 
economy and mental hygiene. In a sense the volume at 
hand is a textbook in educational psychology, revealing to 
teachers and students how all effective instruction of chil- 
dren must be founded on the utilization and development of 
the child's native and acquired responses to the stimuli of 
our civilization. 

The book has been prepared for use as a textbook in col- 
leges and normal schools, and for use as a reading-circle book 
with teachers. An effort has been made by the author to use 
as few technical terms as are consistent with a fair degree of 
precision of statement, and to make the statement of general 
or abstract principles understandable, by the use of illus- 
trations from familiar experiences, to the reader who has 
not studied psychology. In particular, schoolroom situa- 
tions have been used continually as the chief source of illus- 
trations and applications. It is confidently believed that 
this new volume in the series will find for itself a large field 
of usefulness. 

Ellwood P. Cubberley 



PREFACE 

The student and the practical worker in education need 
to know certain specific and certain general facts regarding 
the changes which take place in the child's mental attitudes 
and capacities as he grows more mature — both those which 
are the accompaniments of physical maturity, and those 
which are produced by training and education. By specific 
changes is meant those which are connected particularly 
with some branch of study, as reading, writing, or mathe- 
matics. These have been described in such books as Profes- 
sor Judd's Psychology of High-School Subjects, and the au- 
thor's Psychology of the Common Branches. There remain 
many changes which constitute important phases in the 
child's mental growth, and with which the teacher must be 
acquainted in order to be able rightly to influence his mental 
growth, but which are not especially connected with any 
particular school subjects. These it is the purpose of the 
present volume to describe. 

The discussion even of these general mental processes, 
having as its purpose the furtherance of efficiency in teach- 
ing, differs from "pure" psychology of the ordinary sort in 
at least two important respects. In the first place, it gives 
very little space to classifying and defining mental processes 
— and this only incidentally — and is occupied chiefly in de- 
scribing how the various processes work. Thus, little space 
is given to a discussion of what memory is, and much space 
to an account of the way memorizing can most efficiently 
be carried on. Again, in describing perception, the chief 
aim is not to define it and distinguish it from sensation or 
concepts, but to show how perceptions are formed. In the 



viii PREFACE 

second place, the emphasis is on the growth of the mental 
processes rather than on an analysis of their final form. 
This includes some account of the chief changes which ac- 
company the child's advancing age, and of the changes 
which take place when any one, adult or child, learns any 
new thing. The knowledge of how the child's habits, ideas, 
etc., come to be is a preliminary step to a knowledge of the 
best means of directing or modifying their growth. 

The application of some of the facts which are presented 
is inherent in the statements themselves. If the whole 
method of memorizing is better than the part method in 
certain cases, then in such cases the whole method should be 
used. In a good many other instances, where the applica- 
tion is not so obvious, some application has been suggested. 
But a grasp of the principles of mental growth prepares the 
teacher in some measure to make his own application. To 
furnish the teacher with devices has its place, but the teacher 
who is equipped only with devices lacks the means of initia- 
tive and development. The reason that psychology has been 
of so little use to teachers is not so much the fact that the 
application has been left wholly to him, though this is un- 
doubtedly one reason, as that the kind of facts that have 
been given are not such as could be applied. The effort has 
been made in this volume to present briefly those general 
facts and principles of mental growth which have most 
direct application to the problems of teaching, and to give 
the student sufficient suggestion regarding their application 
to enable him to continue the process of application himself. 

The chapter on the nervous system is the most difficult, 
and may be omitted by classes of immature students withou t 
destroying the continuity of the rest of the book. It is profit- 
able to students who are mature enough to understand it. 
however, because of the notion it gives that mental devel- 
opment is dependent upon certain definite physioloj ical 



PREFACE Lx 

changes which require time and suitable training for their 
accomplishment. It is desirable that it be read at the begin- 
ning of the course, so that the student may interpret the rest 
of the discussion in the light of it, and at the end, so that he 
may understand the nervous system itself better in the light 
of the mental processes. 

I desire to make special acknowledgment to Professors 
C. Judson Herrick and Roswell P. Angier for helpful sugges- 
tions regarding the chapter on the nervous system. 

Frank N. Freeman 
Chicago June 1917 



CONTENTS 

I. Introduction: Teaching founded on the Child's 

Responses 1 

v II. The Nervous System, the Bodily Organ of Re- 
sponse 11 

III. The Relation of Native and Acquired Re- 

sponses 37 

IV. The Child's Native Responses: Play ... 56 
V. Imitation and Self-Assertion 78 

VI. Instinctive Social Attitudes, and Types ... 95 

VII. Speech 112 

VIII. Acquiring Skill 127 

Building up Perceptions 157 

^X. Association and Memorizing^ 185 

^_XI. Problem-Solving or Thinking 212 

XII. General Principles Regarding the Child's 

Mental Development 240 

XIII. Transfer of Training, or General Training . 260 

XIV. Mental Economy and Control, Mental Hygiene 287 
Index 319 



LIST OF FIGURES 

1. The Brain and Spinal Cord, in their Relation to the General 

Structure of the Body 13 

2. Diagram of Reflex Circle 15 

3. Diagram of the Connections in the Level of Perception and Motor 

Habit 19 

4. Diagram of the Connections in the Level for Ideas .... 22 

5. Scheme of the Principal Neurons of the Cerebral Cortex ... 24 

6. Diagram of the Spinal Cord Reflex Apparatus 29 

7. Diagram of Certain Connections between the Spinal Cord and the 

Cerebral Cortex 31 

8. The Human Cerebral Hemispheres seen from the Left Side, upon 

which the Functional Areas of the Cortex are located ... 32 

9. Chart illustrating the Inheritance of Eminent Ability ... 45 

10. Actual Distributions found in Mental Measurements ... 46 

11. Curves of Sending and Receiving of One Learner in Telegraphy . 144 

12. Curves of Progress in Typewriting 145 

13. Practice Curve in Mirror Drawing 146 

14. Curves of Two Adults and an Eight- Year-Old Girl in the Same 

Kind of Sensori-Motor Learning 150 

15. Muller-Lyer Illusion 158 

16. Analysis of the Process of Receiving in Telegraphy into Receiving 

Separate Letters, Disconnected Words, and Connected Dis- 
course 170 

17. The Curve of Forgetting for Nonsense Series learned to the Point 

of One Successful Reproduction, in the Case of Ebbinghaus . 196 



xiv LIST OF FIGURES 

18. The Curve of Forgetting for Nonsense Series learned to the Point 

of Two Successful Repetitions as reported by Radossawl- 
jewitsch 197 

19. Tait's Puzzle 212 

20. Illustrations of Forms of Analysis 213 

21. Age Progress Curves in Problems of the Same Kind but Different 

Difficulty 233 

22. Relations of Grade Distributions to Each Other 230 



HOW CHXLDEEN LEAEN 

CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTION: TEACHING FOUNDED ON THE 
CHILD'S RESPONSES 

Educational psychology deals first with the child's native 
responses. The business of teaching is to awaken the right 
kind of responses in the child. This is a very different task 
from that of merely presenting to the child the facts it is 
assumed he ought to learn. We must know what kind of 
reaction the child is likely to make to the situations which 
are presented, and whether these reactions are such as to 
lead him to acquire the information, form the habits, take 
the attitudes, or develop the ideas which will fit him to meet 
the demands of his life. In order to know how best to guide 
the child in the development of these desirable habits, at- 
titudes, etc., we must know something of his instinctive 
responses. In common with the animal the child performs 
many actions and takes many attitudes without being 
taught. The general form which his play takes, his feelings 
and emotions, and to a large extent the interests which are 
the driving forces of his intellectual growth, are governed 
by his inborn nature. We must therefore study the facts of 
this instinctive nature and its development. 

Another branch deals with the modes of learning in the 
school subjects. We must also know the laws according to 
which these instinctive responses become developed and 
modified by training and selection, so as to form the specific 
habits of conduct of the fully furnished adult person, 



2 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

equipped to meet the demands which life makes on him. 
One group of these principles is concerned with those habits 
which constitute the mastery of the various branches of 
study in the school. We study the kinds of learning which 
are demanded by these subjects of study, in order to dis- 
cover how they may be most economically acquired. We 
must know how the child learns to read, write, calculate, 
etc., and the stages of development through which he passes 
in these forms of learning. This study forms one branch of 
educational psychology — the branch which deals with the 
psychology of the school subjects. 

A third branch deals more with the general principles of 
learning. Besides the specific forms of learning which are 
immediately connected with the acquisition of the school 
arts, the child's education produces certain more general 
habits and attitudes. The development of manual skill takes 
place in a variety of school subjects, as writing, sewing, 
drawing and modeling, wood-working, and language pro- 
nunciation. The development of the ability to memorize 
economically may take place in connection with literature, 
language, history, geography, science, mathematics — in 
fact to some degree in connection with all the school sub- 
jects, and so with fixing associations and thinking. The 
general principles which govern these forms of learning may 
be treated, and this treatment comprises the greater part 
of what is called the " psychology of learning." Connected 
with the consideration of the principles governing the vari- 
ous forms of learning just mentioned are certain still more 
general questions. The first of these deals with the problem 
of so-called " transfer of training," and the second with the 
general condition of " economy in mental work." 

Scope of this book. Three groups of questions have been 
outlined — those concerned with the development of the 
child which is due to instinct or inner growth, rather than 



FOUNDATION OF GOOD TEACHING 3 

to outside influences; those which are bound up with the 
processes of mastering the various school subjects; and 
those which deal with the more general phases of learning. 
This book will deal briefly with the first and third topics. 
The second, being more specialized, is more easily treated 
separately. 

In order to understand more clearly how teaching is con- 
cerned with the native and acquired responses, we must 
stop to consider what we mean by responses, and what are 
the different kinds of responses of which the child is capable. 

Responses may consist in movements or in the prevention 
of a movement. When we speak of responses one is instantly 
led to think of active responses consisting of outward move- 
ments. They are the most obvious, it is true, but the pre- 
vention of a movement is a response to a situation as truly 
as is the making of a movement. If a child is sitting in a 
schoolroom and hears a circus parade outside, the instinctive 
response to this insistent form of stimulus * is getting up and 
looking out of the window. If the child remains in his seat 
he is responding to the school situation by actively prevent- 
ing the movement of getting up and going to the window. 
This checking of a response is called " inhibition." If we 
compare the adult with the child, or the highly civilized per- 
son with the primitive man, we find that education has con- 
sisted in a great many instances in inhibiting the natural, 
spontaneous movements which are made in response to 
certain stimuli. On the other hand, primitive man has cer- 
tain inhibitions which civilized peoples have outgrown. 
Children of one community have to acquire certain sorts of 
inhibition and children of other communities must acquire 
other sorts. The effect of the action of the brain, which is 

1 A stimulus is any object or any occurrence which may affect an indi- 
vidual's sense organs and arouse within him a sensation, idea, or movement 
— that is, any form of response. 



4 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

the most highly developed part of the nervous system, is to 
slow down the mechanical reflex movements of the spinal 
cord which are of an instinctive nature. When the brain of 
the frog is severed from the spinal cord its foot will be with- 
drawn from contact with a hot object more quickly than 
when the brain and the cord are connected in the normal 
way. 

Some responses are hidden. Not only is the inhibition of 
movement a form of response as well as the production 
of a movement, but there is also a distinction between the 
easily observed movements and those which are hidden 
from sight. We make responses to the presence and actions 
of other people which do not always appear as outward or 
easily observed forms of movement. The emotions which 
are aroused within us, and which frequently constitute the 
response which we make to other persons and their actions, 
have been shown to be accompanied by movements within 
the body. For example, the blood vessels in the skin of the 
face may dilate, causing the face to flush, or they may con- 
tract and cause paleness. The muscles of the chest and 
diaphragm may become tense, causing restricted breathing. 
The heart may beat more rapidly. The muscles of the limbs 
and body may stiffen or relax. All of these accompaniments 
of the emotions, as of fear, shame, anger, etc., are as impor- 
tant forms of response as are outward movements. 

Speech is a response. The most important form of social x 
response consists of speech movements. While speech does 
not cause any direct change in the physical objects about us, 
yet it does have an important indirect effect, even on the 
physical world, through its action on other persons. It is as 

1 Here and throughout the book the term "social" is used in the broad 
sense of pertaining to the relations of persons to one another, and to the 
effect of the existence and conduct of other persons on the individual's 
mental life and growth. 



FOUNDATION OF GOOD TEACHING 5 

true a form of response to give a command or reply to a 
question as it is to wield a club or to make a table. But speech 
has its greatest importance from the fact that it is the chief 
means of that communication between persons which is the 
origin of all the more complicated forms of thinking and of 
the recording of thought. These in turn make possible the 
accumulation of knowledge, and the development of litera- 
ture, history, and science. 

Inner choice is a response. There are also certain inner 
forms of response which seem to be still more remote from 
any kind of movement, and which may yet affect our con- 
duct in the long run equally with these more obvious reac- 
tions. This kind of response consists in the inner decisions 
which we make, or the mental attitudes which we adopt, and 
which govern a large share of our future conduct. The 
existence of this type of response makes it evident that the 
description of mental life as made up of responses to stimuli 
does not mean that the individual is at the mercy of the 
outer situations which confront him. It is possible for him 
to choose among the various courses of action which are 
open to him the responses which he shall make. To say that 
one's mental life consists in adaption to the environment, 
or in response to stimuli, does not mean that the inner 
character of the mental life is not important. 

The human being has a wide choice of responses. This 
possibility of choice of responses which confronts the human 
being is due to the fact that he is capable of responding to 
so many different kinds of stimuli, and of making so many 
different kinds of responses. The animal is sensitive to 
stimulation by comparatively few physical objects, and by 
a few actions of other animals, and responds by a narrow 
range of movements. The human being is affected by a 
vastly greater variety of events in the physical world, and 
above all by the expression of ideas and feelings of other hu- 




6 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

man beings through spoken and written language. Through 
the great variety of his responses, and through his social 
relations, things come to have a richness of meaning far be- 
yond the simple meanings they have for the animals. This 
richness of meaning is enhanced by the ability to recall the 
experiences of the past and to forecast those of the future. 
With the wide range of responses which are made possible 
by these facts, the human being is called upon frequently 
to select the stimulus to which he will respond and the kind 
of response he will make. 

Reflection is typically a human response. The large 
capacity for a wide choice among responses grows out of the 
fact that a human being may not merely make an immediate 
reaction to a stimulus, but may think over or reflect upon 
the situation. By this means he puts together different parts 
of his experience in such a way that he may react to it as a 
whole instead of to each moment as it is presented to him. 
He may carry on with himself a sort of inner conversation, 
the immediate result of which does not appear in immedi- 
ate outward action, but in drawing conclusions, in forming 
ideas, or in acquiring permanent attitudes toward principles 
of conduct. 

Responses may be direct or indirect. These forms of 
reaction may be called indirect ways of responding because, 
while they do not result in immediate reactions, yet they do 
affect our reactions at a remote time. When the primitive 
man pauses in the process of making a club or hatchet, and 
reflects on the various methods which might be used, or the 
various application of the material he is shaping to different 
uses, he may be starting a whole train of activities which are 
not completed until some distant future time. When a stu- 
dent listens to a lecture on Education, the response which 
he is making at the time is one of thought or of reflection; 
but at some future time, when confronted by the practical 



FOUNDATION OF GOOD TEACHING 7 

situation of the schoolroom, this reflection may result in a 
definite outward form of response. 

Summary. It will be evident from this discussion that 
when it is said that education consists in developing in a 
child proper responses it is not meant to confine education 
to the more obvious forms of bodily movement. Responses 
have been shown to consist not merely in movement, but in 
the inhibition 1 of movement; not merely in responses to 
objects of the physical world, but also to persons and their 
mental attitudes; not merely by immediate, outward move- 
ments, but by inner decision which may govern a whole 
train of reactions; and finally, not only by immediate reac- 
tion, but by thought or reflection. 

The child's responses are affected by his stage of develop- 
ment. The study of the child and the responses which he 
makes has led to the formulation of general principles 
which make it possible to predict, within certain limits, the 
responses which a particular child will make. In the de- 
velopment of the child different sorts of response are 
prominent at different times. In early life a child is par- 
ticularly prone to make outward movements in response 
to stimuli. As he grows older he learns to check these 
movements. It is evident to any observer of the child 
that he is impulsive, that he does not stop to compare 
different courses of action, or to deliberate which course he 
shall take. The response which consists in making inner 
decisions, therefore, is one which comes as the result of 
gradual mental development, and is partly due to the 
growth of the ability to check the more natural, immediate, 
outward responses. The response by reflection or by thought 

1 Inhibition of a movement means the checking of a movement which is 
being made, or the prevention of a movement which would be made if it 
were not for the inhibition. Thus a strong emotion will check or inhibit 
the movements of the stomach in digestion. 



8 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

is the highest product of the child's education. It begins in 
the early years, it is true, and should be encouraged through- 
out his education, but it becomes more and more prominent 
as he grows older. 

The principle of response has important educational ap- 
plications. The purpose of the rest of this book is to show 
how these different kinds of responses are developed in the 
child by his education. The fact that education does consist 
in developing responses is emphasized here, both because the 
importance of the general principle needs to be clearly rec- 
ognized, and because it is necessary to guard against a one- 
sided application of the principle. The one-sided application 
of the principle has already been suggested. It consists in 
giving sole attention to the responses which the child makes 
through outward, bodily movement. The consequence of 
this perversion is the over- valuation of manual training as 
a means of mental development. Manual training may be 
made a means of intellectual development; but it becomes 
so rather through the interest it awakens and through the 
stimulation it may give to the higher forms of response by 
speech and reflection, than through any mysterious and 
direct influence it may be supposed to have on the brain or 
the mind. 

The true application of this principle of response is much 
broader than this. When it is stated, it seems obvious, and 
yet it has been and often is disregarded. It may be put thus : 
it is not what is presented to the child which educates him, 
but rather the reaction that he makes to what is presented. 
Certain children may fail entirely to respond to a lesson, or 
may respond in a wrong manner. If a child's response to his 
geography is to memorize the words, without any under- 
standing of the facts they represent, the lesson is not edu- 
cative for him, although it may be educative for the child 
next him who reacts properly. The responses of which a 



FOUNDATION OF GOOD TEACHING 9 

child is capable depend upon his stage of development, his 
previous experiences, his ability and his interests. 
*/ Education is concerned with the specific and the general 
responses. The preparation for life which the child receives 
through his education includes the development of responses 
which are suited to certain specific situations, and responses 
which are more general in their application. In each of the 
particular subjects of the curriculum the child learns to 
make certain specific responses. In handwriting he develops 
special habits of movement. In number work he develops 
habits of association which we call addition, subtraction, 
etc. In addition to these specific forms of response, the child 
learns to react in certain ways to the presence of other peo- 
ple. He learns to be obedient, to be considerate of the 
interests of others, to be fair and just in his judgments on 
the actions of others. We sum this up by saying that he 
acquires responses to social situations. The child develops, 
or should develop, certain kinds of control over his actions 
and over his mental processes. He should learn to continue 
the pursuit of a problem until he has arrived at the conclu- 
sion ; he should learn to neglect certain feelings of weariness 
and continue his work in spite of them; he should develop a 
notion of accuracy in his work, etc. In these ways the child 
develops modes of response which are not confined to any 
particular situation, but which will apply to a variety of 
situations. 

It is assumed that general types of response can be de- 
veloped. How far it is possible to develop in the child, not 
merely specific forms of response, but these general types 
of reaction, is a matter of debate. The development of the 
ability to respond in this general way is sometimes called 
transfer of training or formal discipline. We have assumed 
that such transfer of training is possible and is important 
for the child's education. In a later chapter we shall take 



10 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

up this question, and the arguments which are advanced 
on both sides, in some detail. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. Give an example of the specific things a teacher might do in applying 
the principle that teaching is concerned not merely with presenting 
material, but with the child's response. 

2. Illustrate the native responses by citing two animal and two human 
instincts. 

3. Mention some principle of learning which is particularly illustrated in 
one of the subjects of study in the school. If necessary look up the 
question in a book on teaching reading, writing, number, spelling, or 
one of the other branches. 

4. Illustrate your conception of economy in mental work. 

5. Give instances of situations in which it is necessary to learn to inhibit. 
Do you know of any inhibitions which are possessed by primitive 
people which are not possessed by civilized people? Look up under the 
head of Taboo. 

6. Look up the James-Lange theory of the emotions and show how it 
illustrates inner responses. 

7. Illustrate further the value of speech as a response. 

8. Do you think inner choice is independent of any bodily response? 

9. Compare the range of objects to which a chick and a child are 
responsive. 

10. When is outward bodily activity in the child to be discouraged, and 
when not? 

11. Look up some argument for manual training and connect it with the 
discussion here. 

12. What are some of the general responses which are assumed in this 
chapter to exist? 



CHAPTER II 

THE NERVOUS SYSTEM, THE BODILY ORGAN OF RESPONSE 

The view that the mental life consists in responses to 
stimuli is in agreement with what we know about the struc- 
tureanct mode of action of the nervous system. If this is the 
case^ it gives a confirmation to our view of the nature of 
both the nervous system and mental life, because there is a 
close connection between bodily movements and mental 
activity on the one hand, and the action of the nervous sys- 
tem on the other. In fact, the nervous system may be called 
the organ of response and also the organ of the mental life. 
The evidence of this close connection is of many sorts. In 
the evolution of animals it is found that the higher in the 
scale we go, the more prominent is the nervous system, and 
particularly the higher part of the nervous system which 
we call the brain. It is a matter of common experience also 
that injuries to the brain cause derangement in movement, 
in sensation, or in thought. This connection is so close that 
it has been determined that the stimulation of certain parts 
of the brain produces definite movements or makes possible 
certain particular kinds of sensations. Experiments with 
animals have demonstrated the definite connection between 
certain areas of the brain and specified movements. 

The larger divisions of the nervous system 
In describing the development of the nervous system and 
comparing the nervous system of the human being with that 
of the lower forms of animals, we have seen that the brain is 
more highly developed the higher we go in the scale of evo- 
lution. This leads us to consider the divisions of the nervous 



12 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

system and the location of the various arcs which have been 
described in the nervous system. 

The two main divisions of the nervous system. The divi- 
sion of the nervous system which is most important for men- 
tal development is situated chiefly in the skull and the spinal 
column. The fibers of this system which pass to the sense 
organs and the muscles extend, of course, outside these bony 
cavities, but most of the cell bodies and all of the connecting 
neurons are within them. It is this whole cerebro-spinal divi- 
sion to which we have thus far been referring, and with which 
we shall be concerned throughout the book, because it is 
this division which is involved in the movements of the body 
as a whole and of the limbs, and chiefly, so far as we know, 
with learning and thinking. 

The sympathetic system. The other main division of the 
nervous system, the sympathetic system, consists of a large 
number of ganglia (groups of cell bodies) and their nerves, 
scattered throughout the body. In general these ganglia 
exercise local control over the organs with which they are 
connected. An important series of ganglia of this system lie 
in two rows near the spinal column, and, in association with 
centers in the spinal cord, exercise control over digestion, 
breathing, circulation, excretion and reproduction. Most of 
the activities of the sympathetic nervous system do not di- 
rectly affect consciousness; and, while some of them do have 
a vague influence on the feelings, they may be neglected 
in a consideration of the nervous basis of mental growth. 

The peripheral and the central parts of the cerebro-spinal 
system. We may divide the cerebro-spinal system into two 
main parts, one of which is composed of the nerves which 
lead from the sense organs to the spinal cord and the brain, 
or of the nerves which lead from these central parts to the 
muscles. These nerves are sometimes called the peripheral 
part of the nervous system. The rest, which is located within 



THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 



13 



the spinal column and the skull, is called the central nervous 
system. 

The divisions of the central 
nervous system. A general view 
of the chief parts of the central 
nervous system is given in Fig- 
ure 1. We may readily distin- 
guish the large mass which is 
located in the skull. The gen- 
eral term for this mass is the 
brain. Contrasted with this is 
the spinal cord which is situated 
in the spinal column. Each of 
these has subdivisions which 
may be studied by consulting 
works on anatomy or physiolog- 
ical psychology, but we shall de- 
scribe here merely the outlines 
of the chief parts. 

The nerve circuits 
The nervous system is com- 
posed of stimulus-response cir- 
cuits. The nervous system is 
made up fundamentally of a 
series of arcs l or paths of dis- 
charge which connect the va- 
rious sense organs 2 with the 

1 A nervous arc is a series of nerve 
units leading either directly or indirectly 
from a sense organ to a muscle. 

2 The sense organs are structures in 
the body which are sensitive to various 
kinds of stimuli. Thus the eye is sensi- 
tive to cither vibrations or to light; the 
ear, to air vibratious or to sound; the 




Fig. 1. The Brain and Spi- 
nal Cord, viewed from the 
Side, in their Relation to 
the General Structure of 
tiii: Body 

One seventh nntnrnl size. (From 
E.L.Thorndike'a The Elements of Psy- 
chology, by permission of the uulhor.) 



14 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

muscles of the body. For example, there are certain neurons 1 
which connect the sensitive part of the eye, the retina, with 
the muscles which move the eye. There are paths of discharge 
in the nervous system which connect the organ of taste in the 
mouth with the excito-glandular fibers in the salivary glands 
in the mouth. There are other paths of discharge connecting 
the lining of the nose with the muscles which produce sneezing, 
etc. The foundation of the nervous system is to be thought 
of as composed of such a series of neurons as these leading 
from sense organs to muscles. It is clear that if this is a cor- 
rect description of the nervous system it is entirely in agree- 
ment with our view of the mental life as being made up of 
responses to stimuli. We shall see that this agreement is not 
only true in a general way, but that it holds with the different 
kinds of responses which can be made. Just as there are 
more direct and simpler forms of responses, so there are 
simpler kinds of nerve arcs; and just as there are indirect, 
more complicated kinds of response, so there are circuits in 
the nervous system which are appropriate to produce these 
kinds of reaction. 

The Levels of Response 

The first level 

The reflex arc. The simplest, most elementary form of 
stimulus-response circuit in the nervous system is illustrated 
in the examples given above. The neurons which connect a 
sense organ, such as the eye, with muscles which produce a 
response following immediately and invariably upon a par- 
skin to contact with physical objects, and to heat and cold. Besides these 
are sense organs for taste and smell, movement and strain, and for certain 
vague sensations, as for hunger. 

1 The neuron is a nerve cell and its branches, which conducts the nervous 
impulse from one part of the body to another. A more minute description is 
given later in the chapter. 




THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 15 

ticular kind of stimulus, make up what is called a reflex arc. 
The structure of the reflex arc is illustrated by means of the 
diagram in Figure 2. 
The response which 
is made when a reflex 
arc is stimulated is 
called a reflex act. 
For example, the pu- 
pil of the eye en- 
larges or contracts in Fig. 2. Diagram of Reflex Circuit 
response to the de- 
crease or the increase in brightness of the light which 
falls upon the retina. This response follows invariably and 
immediately upon the stimulus. It is a response which is not 
made intentionally; and, in fact, is a response of which we are 
not conscious. Of other reflex acts we may be conscious, but 
they are carried on independently of our intention or per- 
haps in spite of it. Sneezing and coughing are good exam- 
ples of such reflex acts. We may think of these reflex acts 
as like the earliest kind of response which an animal is ca- 
pable of making. Even the animal which consists of but a 
single cell is able to react by moving toward a favorable stim- 
ulus and moving away from that which is harmful. As ani- 
mals grow more and more complex through evolution, they 
acquire a larger number of these reflex acts. The human 
being possesses a great many of them. 

The reflex act is not completed when the outward re- 
sponse is made. When we sneeze or cough we are aware not 
only of the existence of the annoying object or condition 
which produced the response, but we are also aware of the 
act itself. When we withdraw the hand from the hot stove 
we are conscious not merely of the burn, but also of the jerk- 
ing back of the hand. In the reflexes which are carried on 
entirely without our awareness there is still a return current 



16 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

from the muscle to the central link of the arc. The return 
current is not a continuation of the nervous current which is 
produced by the original stimulus, but is a new current pro- 
duced by the contraction of the muscle, which acts as a new 
stimulus. This return current is represented by the lower line 
in Figure 1. This return current often serves to start a 
second response, and this may be followed by a third, and so 
on. Since the stimulus is thus followed by a return current in 
addition to the current which produces the movement, it is 
appropriate to speak of the system as a "reflex circuit," 1 
instead of a " reflex arc." We shall accordingly use this 
completer term. 

Reflex acts are combined to produce instinctive action. 
Many responses are very similar to reflex acts except that 
they consist of chains of movements rather than of single 
movements. Each movement in the series may be thought 
of as a response to the situation created by the previous 
movement in the chain, as well as to some aspect of the 
external world of objects. Thus a beast of prey in stalking 
its victim responds to a series of smells and sights as they 
appear from one instant to another as a result of its own 
movements or the movements of its prey; and also responds 
by each successive movement in stalking, crouching, leaping 
and seizing and tearing, to its own bodily movements and 
positions which form the preceding links in the chain. In 
human beings the act of walking is an illustration of a chain 
of reflexes which together compose an instinctive act. 2 Such 
chains of reflexes, which make up an instinct, differ from 
single reflexes, in that instinctive acts depend more on the 

1 A reflex circuit is a reflex arc plus the return path leading from the 
muscle back to the central part of the circuit. 

2 An instinctive act is an inborn or inherited form of response, like a re- 
flex act, but is distinguished from a reflex net in that it consists of a whole 
chain or series of acts. Both reflexes and instincts serve a useful purpose, 
but the purpose served by au instinct is more remote. 



THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 17 

internal condition of the animal and are somewhat less fixed 
and machine-like in their operation. It is probable also that 
we should regard an instinct as something more than merely 
a series of reflexes. It is necessary to explain how the succes- 
sion of acts which make up the instinct come to be arranged 
in this order so as to be so nicely adapted to produce a use- 
ful and satisfactory result. This explanation is supplied if 
we regard the series of reflexes taken together as combining 
to form a reaction to an object, and each step as a stage 
toward the completion of the act as a whole. Thus, a swal- 
low which returns from its Southern migration to the same 
chimney in the North is really reacting to the chimney 
throughout the whole course of its journey. 1 

Internal bodily adjustments correspond to emotions. 
Many instinctive acts consist of internal responses. The 
sight of a wild animal or the sound of thunder may cause 
trembling of the legs, tension of the abdominal muscles, 
slowing-down or holding of the breath, weakening or quick- 
ening of the heart-beat and contraction of the blood vessels 
of the skin producing paleness, or other internal responses. 
These are some of the familiar symptoms of the emotion we 
call fear. The other emotions have their own forms of inter- 
nal bodily responses. The emotions and their accompanying 
bodily responses form an important class of instincts. 

The mechanism of instinctive acts. Instincts are carried 
on through the cooperation of whole series and groups of 
reflex circuits. This union of circuits into groups is effected 
by means of paths joining the different circuits at their cen- 
tral parts, as indicated in Figure 1 by the vertical arrow- 
head lines. 

The reflexes and primary instincts may be modified 
slightly. The instincts and reflexes have been described as 
invariable. This is true only comparatively. The chick's 
1 The author is indebted for this illustration to Professor R. P. Angier. 



18 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

general reflex tendency to peck at small objects becomes 
modified as the result of the experience of getting a bad- 
tasting worm into its mouth. Henceforth a discrimination is 
made, and the tendency to peck at this worm is checked. 
The spider's instinct for building its web is modified in some 
of the details to suit the position of the objects which fur- 
nish its support. If we think of an instinct as an inherited 
means of reaching a goal useful to the animal, we must 
recognize the possibility of some slight variation in this 
means of attaining its end. 

Some human instincts are less definite. Besides these 
comparatively fixed instincts there are in human beings cer- 
tain attitudes and types of activity which are universal and 
evidently inherited and not learned, though they are not 
represented by particular, fixed sets of acts, but now by this 
and now by that particular act. We may perhaps regard the 
home-building impulse in human beings as such an indefinite 
instinct. It is not represented by a series of definite acts, 
each of which may be a reflex, as in the case of the nest- 
building instinct of birds or the web-building instinct of 
spiders. But it is none the less a native impulse which must 
be based on some inherited organization in the nervous 
system. 

The level of sensori-motor learning and perception 
Habit formation is an advance beyond instinctive action. 
In the higher animals, and preeminently in human beings, 
the individual acquires modes of meeting the situations 
which confront him, and of satisfying his needs and im- 
pulses, which are not simply slight modifications of instinc- 
tive actions, but are radically new. When confronted by 
a situation to which no instinct furnishes a satisfactory re- 
sponse, the higher animal or man finds a new mode of re- 
sponse; and finally, after sufficient repetition, crystallizes 



THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 



19 



the new response into a habit. The habit then becomes in 
some respects like an instinct, but is different in its origin. 

Illustration : Sensori-motor learning in the cat. An illus- 
tration of habit formation may be found in the action of a cat 
in escaping from a cage. If a hungry cat is put into a cage, 
the door of which is fastened shut by a latch or string so 
constructed that the animal is capable of opening it, the cat 
first goes through all manner of clawings and scratchings 
which are its instinctive mode of getting out of close quar- 
ters. Finally, out of this variety of movements one by chance 
presses the latch which opens the door and the cat escapes. 
The next time the cat hits upon the correct movement some- 
what more quickly, and the next still more quickly, until 
finally it responds immediately with the correct movement, 
and a new stimulus-response circuit or habit has been 
formed. 

Learning is effected by means of additional, superimposed, 
arcs. What arrangement in the nervous system makes 
possible the f orma- 



) Circuits for 
perception 
and 
motor habit 



tion of such new 
circuits? The sys- 
tems of reflex cir- 
cuits allow of some 
slight modifica- 
tion, but there is 
an additional sys- 
tem which much 
more readily al- 
lows the formation 
of such new cir- 
cuits. Leading up- 
ward from the re- 
flex circuits are paths of connection with higher centers. 
These higher centers may be compared roughly to a telc- 




Fig. 3. Diagram of the Connections in the 
Level of Perception and Motor Habit 



20 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

phone switchboard. Each incoming wire may be connected 
in these centers with any one of a great many outgoing wires. 
This possibility is suggested by the diagram in Figure 3. 
This nervous organization has the additional property, un- 
like the telephone exchange, of uniting many of the paths, 
either incoming or outgoing, into groups or systems. 

Perception is developed by many responses to the same 
object. From the time when the infant begins to play with 
his ball or his rattle, he begins to do a variety of things with 
the same object, and in doing so to gain a variety of experi- 
ences from it. He grasps his rattle and gains from it experi- 
ences of movement and touch. He runs his hand over it 
and enriches his experience. His eye falls on it while he is 
waving it and another connection is made between this thing 
with the familiar feeling and a thing that has a certain 
appearance of brightness. His eye explores the object and 
in doing so gives a new combination of experiences of eye 
movement with those of sight which gives him a more 
definite apprehension of its shape. The sound of the rattle 
falls on his ear and this is added to the qualities of this 
strange thing, beside giving a new starting point for the 
development of a new sense of direction. The uniting of a 
variety of experiences in an object, which thus takes place 
through the variety of responses to it, is designated by the 
term perception. It is but the other side of the union of 
responses into habit groups. The one is viewed from the 
standpoint of the combination of stimuli, the other from the 
standpoint of the combination of movements. Neither takes 
place alone, and both are made possible by the higher nerve 
circuits. 

Consciousness guides in sensori-motor responses. The 
reflex actions, as we have seen, may take place without our 
being aware at all that they are being made. When the nerv- 
ous impulse passes to the second level, however, we become 



THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 21 

aware of the stimulus which causes the response. In a good 
many reflexes this stimulation of the higher arc regularly 
takes place. When we sneeze or cough, the cause of the 
reaction produces a sensation, but the reaction would take 
place whether we had the sensation or not. The action 
ceases to become a reflex when consciousness not merely ac- 
companies the act but produces some modification in it. This 
more advanced type of response, in which the movement is 
guided or modified by the sensation which is received, is 
appropriately called a sensori-motor response. The difference 
between the reflex and the sensori-motor response may be 
illustrated by comparing the act of withdrawing the foot 
when it is tickled with the process of learning to skate. With- 
drawing the foot is a reflex act, which is accompanied by a 
sensation produced by the stimulus which sets off the re- 
sponse and by the response itself. But the sensation may be 
regarded as superfluous since the act would be carried on if 
the person were unconscious, as in sleep. In learning to 
skate, on the other hand, the sensations which accompany 
gaining or losing one's balance are used directly to select 
the kind of movements which maintain balance and elimi- 
nate those which destroy it. 

The level of ideation 
The use of ideas represents a still less direct response. 
We saw in our catalogue of the different kinds of responses 
of which the human being is capable that there are many 
responses which do not consist in immediate, outward 
actions, but which rather consist in thinking or in reflection. 
In the nervous system also there is a division which corre- 
sponds to these remote or indirect types of response. This 
division we may call, in distinction from the others, the third 
level. As the second level consisted in arcs which were super- 
imposed on the reflex arcs of the first level, so the third level 



HOW CHILDREN LEARN 



1 Reflex 



consists in still further and much more complicated arcs 
superimposed on those of the second level. (See Figure 4.) 

}This form of struc- 
Circuits i •, 

for ideas ture makes it possi- 

1 1 ble for a stimulus to 

set up not merely a 
direct, outward re- 
sponse, but also a 
variety of activities 
in the nervous sys- 
tem which do not 
immediately issue in 
[circuit impulses to the mus- 
cles. 

Illustration. The 
contrast between the 
responses of the sec- 
ond and third level 
may be illustrated 
by a comparison of 
the way in which a 
cat finds its way out of a cage which is fastened by a latch, 
with the way in which a human being might attack a sim- 
ilar problem. The method which is pursued by the cat is 
merely to make a great many movements of clawing, 
scratching and reaching, until finally one of these move- 
ments presses the latch and opens the door. The satisfaction 
that follows the successful movement gradually causes it 
to be selected out of the mass of useless movements, and 
in this hit-or-miss fashion a sensori-motor connection is 
made. The human being when confronted by such a situa- 
tion may respond in the same way, but he is capable of 
responding in a different manner. He may sit down and 
call to mind other experiences which he has had with locks, 




Fig. 4. Diagram of the Connections 
in the Level for Ideas 



THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 23 

facts he has heard or read about them, or the reasons which 
lead one to suppose that one kind of fastening rather than 
another had been used in this instance. After the lock has 
been opened he may draw conclusions from his experience 
to help him in meeting a similar problem another time. 

The higher processes consist in associations of ideas. On 
the mental side we may call these various responses associa- 
tions. The stimulus may call to mind a great variety of 
ideas, and these ideas in turn may call up other ideas or 
trains of thought. This process of association of ideas with 
one another may be carried to great length and constitute 
what we call thought or reflection. The nervous impulses 
which are set up ultimately issue, it is true, in paths of dis- 
charge towards the muscles; and the thoughts or reflections 
which are caused ultimately lead to conduct; but the associ- 
ations and thoughts themselves are so important that we 
come to think of them as being only remotely connected 
with the stimuli which arouse them or the actions by which 
they are expressed. 

Summary. We see, then, that the nervous system may be 
thought of as composed of different levels. On the lowest 
is the simple reflex arc which produces the mechanical reflex 
or instinctive acts. On the second level we have sensations 
and perceptions, and these sensations and perceptions serve 
to govern in an immediate way the kind of response which is 
made. The actions of this level we call sensori-motor re- 
sponses. On the third level we have represented all of the 
higher mental processes, in which we do not respond immedi- 
ately and directly to the objects of our environment, but 
through which we associate these objects with other experi- 
ences which we have had, anticipate future results of our 
actions, consider their relation to other actions, and in 
general reflect upon the stimulus or the response to be 
made. 




Fig. 5. Scheme of the Principal Neueons of the Cerebral 
Cortex 

p' ' p" ax\6.p r " are " pyramidal " cells, the axons of which convey impulses to the mus- 
cles in various parts of the body, pu and pc are neurons, the axon's of which convey im- 
pulses to other parts of the brain. C'and C are neurons which connect near-by areas. 
The axons of neurons, the remainder of which are in other parts of the nervous system, 
which convey impulses toward the region which is here shown, are indicated by the arrows 
pointing upward. (From Foster, Textbook of f/iysiotogy.) 



THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 25 

The neurons and their connections 
The branching of the neurons connects the different arcs 
with one another. With this general scheme of the mode of 
action of the nervous system in mind, we may turn to a 
description of the detailed structures which compose these 
general systems of arcs. The nervous system is made up en- 
tirely of groups of nerve cells, called neurons. The simplest 
kind of arc always consists of at least two or three of these 
neurons placed end to end in a series, as shown diagram- 
matically in Figure 1. We shall see that this fact, that even 
the simplest reflex arc is composed of more than one neuron, 
is what makes possible variation in response, and the con- 
nections between the different arcs and levels of the nervous 
system. If a single neuron led from a sense organ to a muscle, 
there would be no means, according to the structure and 
function of the neuron as it is now conceived, by which the 
impulses might be diverted to the brain or to some other 
muscle. The presence of intermediate neurons in the nervous 
arcs introduces junction points between the successive links 
of the chain, at which the branches of the neuron are con- 
nected with other arcs besides the one to which it belongs. 
Thus one branch of a neuron entering the central system 
from one sense organ may be connected with a neuron lead- 
ing to a near-by muscle, while another may lead to a more 
remote muscle and a third to the brain. As a consequence 
an object touching the hand may result in withdrawal of 
the hand or clasping the hand about the object, and also in 
a movement of the other hand, in the movement of the 
mouth in speech, or in the movement of the body as a whole, 
as in walking. 

The structure of the neuron. The way in which this dis- 
tribution of impulse is possible may be seen more clearly from 
a description of the detailed structure of the individual 



26 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

neuron. A neuron is composed of a cell body and a large 
number of prolongations extending from it. These prolonga- 
tions are of two sorts. As shown in Figure 5, one kind of 
prolongation consists in numerous filaments having many 
branches which ordinarily do not extend far from the cell 
body. These branches, because of their tree-like appearance, 
are called dendrites (from the Greek word dendron, tree). 
Ordinarily they carry the nervous impulse toward the cell 
body. The other kind of prolongation is usually long and 
has fewer side branches. There is but one of these to a cell 
and its side branches go off more nearly at right angles to the 
main stem. This prolongation is the axon and usually car- 
ries the nerve impulse away from the cell body. This whole 
structure, composed of the cell body, dendrites, and the 
axon, is called the " neuron." 1 

It will be readily seen how the structure of the neuron 
makes it possible for an impulse to be gathered from a vari- 
ety of sources through the dendrites and to issue in a variety 
of directions through the branches of the axon. 

Resistance at the connections determines the direction 
of the nerve current. In view of the great number of inter- 
connections between the neurons and the great variety of 
directions which the impulse may take, the question immedi- 
ately arises as to what it is that makes the nervous impulse 
more likely to go in one direction than in another. We found 
that there were a great many reflex acts in which a particu- 
lar stimulus is almost invariably followed by a particular 
kind of movement. Since each reflex arc has superimposed 
upon it another arc of the second level, and since the sensory 
nerve is connected with other muscles as well as with those 

1 The neuron is the structural unit of the nervous system. It consists 
of a single nerve cell, composed of the cell body which is the nutritive center 
of the cell, and of two kinds of branches: the dendrites which are usually 
short and carry impulses toward the cell body, and the axon which is 
usually long and carries the impulse from the. cell body. 



THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 27 

of the immediately associated reflex, how does it happen 
that, in a reflex or a habit, a particular reaction is almost 
sure to follow a particular kind of stimulus? The answer of 
this question is to be found in the peculiar character of the 
connection between the branches of one neuron and those 
of another. This connection is of such a nature that it may 
offer a low resistance or a high resistance to the passing of 
the nerve current. Thus, although a neuron may be con- 
nected with a great variety of other neurons, the resistance 
at the points of connection with certain neurons may be so 
much lower than the resistance at other points that most of 
the nervous current may pass immediately over to the one 
rather than to the other set of neurons. 

Resistance at the synapses may be low through inherit- 
ance or through training. These points of connections be- 
tween different neurons have been called synapses. The 
meaning of the word synapse l may be readily grasped from 
its derivation. It comes from two Greek words meaning 
" together " and " unite," so that it means the place where 
branches are joined together. We have found that there are 
two ways in which a connection between a stimulus and a 
response may come into being. There are certain of these 
connections which are inborn, and there are others which 
are formed through the experience or the activities of the 
individual during his life-time. We must therefore assume 
that there are certain synapses at which there is a low 
resistance through the inborn structure of the nervous sys- 
tem, and that there are other synapses at which the resist- 
ance becomes low as the result of some kind of training. The 
higher up we go in the nervous system, the more numerous 
the interconnections between neurons become, and the less 

1 A synapse is the surface of contact between the axon of one neuron 
and the dendrites of another, at which the nerve current passes over from 
one neuron to another. 



28 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

is any particular connection as compared with others deter- 
mined by inherited structure. 

Summary. A person acquires appropriate responses, then, 
through the development of preferred paths of discharge by 
means of a lowering of resistance at certain synapses. We 
may think of the brain of the child as being made up partly 
of certain paths of low resistance at the start, and as also 
including many points of contact at which there is not much 
greater probability at the beginning that the nervous im- 
pulse will pass over one path than another. Development 
consists in the selection of certain paths of discharge and 
the lowering of resistance so that the nervous energy passes 
in one direction more easily than in others. 

The location of the nervous arcs in the brain and spinal cord 
In order to avoid misconceiving the statements which fol- 
low regarding the location of different level circuits it must 
be clearly understood that no hard and fast separation of 
the circuits into the different regions can be made. There are 
exceptions to any general scheme of division which could be 
laid down. Probably the most accurate statement regarding 
the location of the various kinds of circuits is that in certain 
parts of the nervous system certain kinds of circuits pre- 
dominate. With this understanding the following para- 
graphs should be read. For the sake of simplicity the excep- 
tions will not be mentioned. 

The reflex arcs in the spinal cord. Our chief problem is 
to understand the relation of the arcs of the three levels to 
the brain and spinal cord. In order to do this we may begin 
with the spinal cord, which is simpler and more like the 
original structure in the lower forms of animals from which 
man developed. We must think of the body and the spinal 
cord as divided into sections and of each section of the body 
as supplied by nerves from the corresponding section of the 



THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 



29 



spinal cord. The skin of each section is connected through 
reflex arcs with the muscles of the same section. This is 
illustrated by the withdrawal of the foot when it is tickled. 
The different sections are not independent, however, but 
through the branching of the neurons, the reflex arcs of one 
section have been connected with those of other sections 
and with the arcs of higher levels. Thus if one tickles the 
side of a dog it will respond at first with the reflex act of 

•spinal lemniscus 

correlation neuron 1 

funiculus dorsalis 




C^) sp.g.1 
correlation neuron 2 

(T) sp.g.2 



n 



sKin 



sp.g.3 



correlation neuron 9 

C ) s P9 4 



Fig. 6. Diagram of the Spinal Cord Reflex Apparatus 

Some of the connections of a single afferent neuron from the skin (d. r. 2) are 
indicated: d. r. 2, dorsal root from second spinal ganglion; m., muscles; sp. g. 1 
to sp. g. I t , spinal ganglia; v. r. 1 to v. r. b, ventral roots. (From C. J. Herrick's 
Introduction to Neurology, by permission of W. B. Saunders Company.) 

scratching with the hind foot, but if this movement does not 
alleviate the tickling other acts will be resorted to. The 
arrangement of the reflex arcs in the spinal cord is shown in 
Figure 6. 



30 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

The reflex arcs and instinctive centers in the head. Orig- 
inally the part of the nervous system in the head differed 
little from the parts in the rest of the body. It contained 
reflexes from the skin to corresponding muscles. It early ac- 
quired importance from the fact that the mouth was located 
here, and that stimuli in this region regularly set up re- 
sponses in the body as a whole. It acquired still further 
importance from the development of the organs of distance 
sense in the head — smell, hearing, and sight. These senses 
had their own local reflex responses, as they still have, and 
the centers for these reflexes are located in the head; but 
they also served to unite the various parts of the body into 
unified activity, and as a consequence the head centers 
came to be the centers for instinctive activity. The part 
of the brain which contains both the reflex centers of the 
head, and, for the most part, the centers for instinctive 
activity, is called the brain stem. This is a general term 
which covers a variety of organs, but it will suffice for our 
purpose. 

The higher level arcs in the cerebrum. In the higher ani- 
mals (higher vertebrates) these centers of the brain stem are 
completely overshadowed — in fact, literally covered over 
— by the additional development of the higher arcs in the 
cerebrum. The superimposed neurons which convey incom- 
ing impulses upward from the reflex and instinctive circuits, 
and the neurons which convey corresponding outgoing im- 
pulses to these lower circuits, pass into the cerebrum from 
the center, and thence outward to the outside, where the cell 
bodies are located. It is possible also that the cerebrum is 
the organ for some of the instinctive activities. These con- 
nections are shown in Figure 7. This outside is gray in color, 
because of the presence of the cell bodies, and is called the 
cerebral cortex (literally rind) . The inner part, composed of 
fibers, is white. The cerebrum is divided into two hemi- 



THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 



31 



spheres, each hemisphere in general being connected with 
the opposite side of the body. The two hemispheres are inti- 
mately connected with each other. 



cerebral 




akin 



muscle 



Fig. 7. Diagram of Certain Connections between the 
Spinal Cord and the Cerebral Cortex 

(From C. J. Herrick's Introduction to Neurology, by permission of W. B. 
Saunders Company.) 

An additional coordinating center, the cerebellum, unifies 
the movements of the body as a whole. It appears to have 
little direct connection with mental activity. 



32 



HOW CHILDREN LEARN 



The. localization of the arcs of the second level in the 
cerebrum. In the course of the development of the second 
level arcs they have become grouped into special areas in 
the cerebral cortex. There are certain areas to which the 
sensory nerves come, and others from which motor nerves 
go. They are called sensory and motor areas. There are not 
only sensory and motor areas in general, but special areas for 
each of the senses and for each group of muscles. The locali- 
zation of the chief areas is shown in Figure 8. 




Fig. 8. The Human Cerebral Hemispheres Seen from the Left 
Side, upon which the Functional Areas of the Cortex are located 

The areas marked "Toes," "Foot," etc., to "Lips," are motor areas. The area back of 
(to the right of) the motor areas is the area for touch and muscle sense. (From C. J. Her- 
rick's Introduction to Neurology, by permission of W. B. Saunders Company.) 



The localization of the arcs of the third level. It is evident 
that the arcs of the third level must be arranged in such a 
way that they form connections among a great variety of 
the lower level arcs. We saw that even on the reflex level 
there were interconnections between different arcs. The 
action of the third level makes it possible to govern the 



THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 33 

response to a stimulus by bringing to bear upon it through 
association a great variety of experiences and ideas. The 
neurons of this level, in consequence, are connecting, or 
associating neurons. Even in the highest of the lower ani- 
mals the brain is almost entirely made up of sensory and 
motor areas. This corresponds to the fact that the action of 
these animals, as for example the monkey, is chiefly on the 
second level. There is little or none of what we call memory, 
imagination, association of ideas, reasoning, etc. These 
forms of mental life, which compose what we call the third 
level, are based upon the action of another sort of brain 
area. It will be seen from the figure that the definitely lo- 
cated areas, either sensory or motor, in the human brain, 
do not by any means exhaust the surface of the brain. There 
are large areas existing between these. For example, there 
is a large and unaccounted for space between the auditory 
and the visual areas, also between the area for vision and 
the area for movements, and finally the area located in the 
front part of the brain. These have been called association 
areas because they do not form the basis for sensations or 
for movements, but rather for the formations of connections 
or associations between different sensations, or between 
combinations of sensation and movement. 

Summary. To sum up this description of the nervous sys- 
tem, we may say that it consists partly of series of arcs of 
simpler nature connecting the sense organs and the muscles 
directly, and that these arcs are located chiefly in the spinal 
cord and the brain stem. In the second place, there are, in 
addition to these simple, direct arcs, other arcs which con- 
nect the lower centers with centers of sensation and move- 
ment in the brain. These arcs of the second level make pos- 
sible the formation of complex types of recognition which 
are called " perception," and the development of new forms 
of activity which are called " sensori-motor habits." In the 



34 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

third place, especially in the human being, there is a third 
level, comprising the association areas of the brain, which 
make possible not merely a variability in response but the 
development of ideas and the association of ideas, in such a 
way as to bring to bear on our responses trains of thought, 
memories of past experiences, anticipations of future experi- 
ences, and the consideration of general principles as govern- 
ing our actions. 

A knowledge of the nervous system gives a concrete basis 
for understanding mental facts. We have described the 
general structure and mode of action of the nervous system 
in order to make it possible to convey an idea of the physical 
conditions and limitations of mental action. The laws of 
mental action are probably fundamentally merely laws of 
nervous action. It is true that in most cases the observation 
of mental life throws more light upon the activities in the 
nervous system, than direct observation of the nervous 
system throws on the laws of mental activity; but a general 
notion of the structure of the nervous system, which has 
been developed both from the study of the physical struc- 
ture itself and an observation of human conduct, enables 
us to get a concrete idea of the conditions which underlie 
the laws of mental activity. In other words, this study 
enables us to visualize the physical facts corresponding to 
the mental facts, and this visualization of the physical facts 
serves to make an explanation of the mental facts more 
concrete than it would otherwise be. 

The nervous structure emphasizes the motor side of 
experience. Besides enabling us to understand better the 
reason for many of the facts of our mental life, and to give 
them a systematic and concrete foundation, the conception 
of the nervous system which has been outlined causes us to 
take certain general points of view in regard to the princi- 
ples of mental activity and mental development. In the 



THE NERVOUS SYSTEM 35 

first place we are made to see clearly that the nervous sys- 
tem is arranged not merely in such a way that it may re- 
ceive impressions or be sensitive to stimuli, but that it is 
equally adjusted to bring about responses to these stimuli. 
We have a concrete, material basis for the view that was 
presented in the introductory chapter, and are prepared to 
recognize that a person's mental attitude toward the world 
about him depends on the motor expression through which 
the nervous impulse finds its outlet, as well as upon the 
impressions which he receives. A child and an adult see a 
circus parade. The impression in the two cases is the same. 
But the child reacts by running, jumping, shouting, and 
keeping time to the music. The adult reacts by noting the 
animals which are new to him, or by comparing the elabo- 
rate circus of the present with the simple affair of his child- 
hood. The different modes of reaction makes the whole 
experience different. 

The three levels emphasize the distinction between 
different kinds of responses. In the second place the dis- 
tinction between different levels in the nervous system 
helps us to classify the different kinds of responses. The 
child is born with a number of reflex and instinctive re- 
sponses of the first level. He builds up in the course of his 
experience many sensori-motor responses of the second 
level. So far we may compare his development with that 
of the animal. The dog scratches himself, snaps at objects, 
swallows food which is in his mouth and chases cats, all as 
matters of reflex response. He can be taught to " speak," 
to roll over or to " point " through the development of the 
sensori-motor responses of the second level. The child, in 
addition to such acts as these, remembers, imagines, thinks, 
compares and associates his experiences. In this he employs 
the third level. The mistake is sometimes made of attempt- 
ing to describe the whole mental development as though it 



36 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

were made up of reflexes and sensori-motor responses. We 
shall see again in the chapter on Transfer of Training how a 
mistaken idea of the nervous system may lead to this error. 
The third level is as real a part of the nervous system as are 
the first levels, and of vastly more importance. It is, how- 
ever, built on the basis of the lower levels, and it is an 
equally serious mistake to ignore the importance of reflex 
and instinctive activity as a basis for the higher mental life. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. Find two specific illustrations which show the intimate, connection 
between the nervous system and mental life. 

2. Name as many kinds of sensation as you can. 

3. Give examples of delayed responses. 

4. Illustrate further learning on the sensori-motor level and on the level 
of ideas in human beings. 

5. What is the general significance of the neuron in the nervous system? 

6. Through what means do groups of neurons acquire a working relation- 
ship to each other? 

7. Trace, if you can, the path traversed by the nervous impulse in the 
reflex turning of the eye to look toward' an object at the margin of the 
field of vision. 

8. Look up and describe Broca's area. 

9. Locate in a rough drawing of the brain the center in the cerebrum for 
movements of the right hand. 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

Herrick, C. J. Introduction to Neurology. (W. B. Saunders & Co., 1915.) 
Judd, C. II. Introduction to Psychology, chaps, n and III. (Chas. Scribner's 

Sons, 1911.) 
Ladd, G. T., and Woodworth, R. S. Elements of Physiological Psychology. 

(Chas. Scribner's Sons, 1911.) 
McDougall, Wm. Physiological Psychology. (Dent.) 
Sherrington, Chas. S. Integrative Action of the Nervous System. (Chas. 

Scribner's Sons, 1906.) 



CHAPTER III 

THE RELATION OF NATIVE AND ACQUIRED RESPONSES 

1. The problem 
It has been believed by some that education is of chief 
importance in the child's development. Two extreme views 
have been held concerning the importance of native re- 
sponses in comparison with acquired responses. On the one 
hand, it has been thought that the child is born with a nerv- 
ous system capable of any sort of development, within the 
range of human possibilities, which the environment may 
be fitted to produce in it. This view is that the child pos- 
sesses a great variety of possibilities, any one of which is 
equally capable of being fulfilled. As the great English phi- 
losopher, John Locke, expressed it, the mind of the child is 
a blank tablet or tabula rasa upon which experience traces 
its forms. In the first section of his Some Thoughts on Edu- 
cation Locke sums up the relative importance of inborn 
constitution and education as follows : — 

I confess, there are some Men's Constitutions of Body and Mind 
so vigorous and well framed by Nature, that they need not much 
Assistance from others; but by the strength of their natural 
Genius, they are from their Cradles carried toward what is excel- 
lent; and by the privilege of their happy Constitutions, are able 
to do Wonders. But examples of this kind are but few; and I 
think I may say, that of all the Men we meet with, nine parts of ten 
are what they are, good or evil, useful or not, by their Education. 1 

The mind of the mature person, according to such a view, 
is almost entirely a product of the experiences which he has 
had during his lifetime. 

1 Locke, John. Some Thought.? on Education, p. 1. Edited by R. H. 
Quick. (Cambridge University Press.) 



38 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

Others have held that the inborn nature is the chief factor 
in development — Rousseau's view. On the other hand, it 
is sometimes thought that the child's development is chiefly 
an unfolding of certain instincts which he possesses at birth, 
or which develop in him apart from any peculiar experiences 
which he may have. The child's possibilities are thought of 
as strictly limited by his inborn capacities. He is supposed 
to possess certain traits which unfold themselves in a man- 
ner which is very little if any influenced by the surroundings 
in which he may live. If the general trend of the writings of 
the philosopher Locke may be taken to represent the first 
extreme, the French philosopher and political writer, Rous- 
seau, may be taken to represent the second point of view. 

If children leaped at a single bound from the state of nurslings 
to the age of reason, the current education might be the best for 
them; but in accordance with natural progress they require an 
education of a totally different sort. They must do nothing with 
their soul until it has all its faculties; for it is impossible for the 
soul to perceive the torch which you present to it while it is blind, 
and to follow in the boundless field of ideas a route which the 
reason traces so faintly even for the sharpest eyes. 

The first education, then, ought to be purely negative. It con- 
sists not at all in teaching virtue or truth, but in shielding the 
heart from vice, and the mind from error. If you could do nothing 
and allow nothing to be done; if you could bring your pupil sound 
and robust to the age of twelve years without his being able to 
distinguish his right hand from his left — from your very first 
lessons the eyes of his understanding would be open to reason. 1 

Karl Pearson's conclusion from his study of inheritance. 
Many have been led by the modern scientific study of inher- 
itance to emphasize the importance of inborn capacities. 
Karl Pearson, who succeeded Sir Francis Galton in this 
study, states his position emphatically : — 

1 Rousseau, Emile, pp. 58, 59. Translated by Paine. (Appleton, 1905.) 



NATIVE AND ACQUIRED RESPONSES 39 

We stand, I again feel certain, at the commencement of an 
epoch which will be marked by a great dearth of ability. The 
remedy lies beyond the reach of revised educational systems; we 
have failed to realize that the psychical characters, which are, in 
the modern struggle of nations, the backbone of a state, are not 
manufactured by home and school and college; they are bred in 
the bone. ... I have striven by a study of the inheritance of the 
mental and moral characters in man to see how it (ability) arises, 
and to know the real source of an evil is half-way to finding a rem- 
edy. That remedy lies first in getting the intellectual section of 
our nation to realize that intelligence can be aided and trained, 
but no training and education can create it. You must breed 
it. That is the broad result for statecraft which flows from the 
equality in inheritance of the physical and psychical characters 
in man. 1 

Our verdict is of practical importance. The practical 
bearing of this question is well indicated in another passage 
from Locke. This passage also indicates that in spite of the 
general trend of his philosophy and the statement which is 
quoted above, he modified his theory when it came to its 
practical application. 

He therefore that is about children should study their Natures 
and Aptitudes, and see by often Trials what Turn they easily take, 
and what becomes them; observe what their native Stock is, how 
it may be improved, and what it is fit for. He should consider 
what they want, whether they are capable of having it wrought 
into them by Industry, and incorporated there by Practice, and 
whether it be worth while to endeavor it. For in many cases all 
that we can do, or should aim at, is, to make the best of what 
Nature has given, to prevent the Vices and Faults to which a 
Constitution is most inclined, and give it all the Advantages it is 
capable of. 2 

If education is everything and the differences due to 
inheritance of no account, then we may hope to produce any 

1 Pearson, K. "On the Inheritance of Mental and Moral Characters in 
Man"; in Biometrika, vol. in, p. 159. 

2 Locke, op. cil., p. 40. 



40 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

sort of result, of which human nature is capable, with any 
child. The school would still have to take account of the 
kind of training the child received in the home, but this 
might also be directed. If, on the other hand, children 
differ in native capacity, then it is necessary to find out 
what these differences are and suit the training to them. 
This is the practical problem. 

Neither extreme is correct. Scientific studies of both ani- 
mal and human development have shown that neither of 
these extreme views can be justified. The development of 
the nervous system and of the mind is always due to certain 
stimuli which produce responses, but the responses which 
are made depend upon the native capacities or tendencies 
of the animal or the person as well as upon the stimuli. The 
way in which experience may serve to direct or modify the 
development of the instincts we shall discuss particularly 
in another place. The question which we have before us 
here is, to determine to what extent the child's development 
is limited by his native capacities, or to what extent it 
depends on the sort of training or education he receives. 

2. The evidence for the importance of inborn nature 
The evidence from a comparison of primitive with civilized 
man. One kind of evidence which we may use in attacking 
this question is derived from an observation of the differ- 
ences in the responses of persons of different grades of civili- 
zation. It was formerly thought that the difference between 
the savage or the primitive man, and the civilized human 
person, is chiefly due to an evolution of the physical organ- 
ism, — that is, to development of a higher type of nervous 
system. The civilized person was thought of as standing 
on a higher plane because he had progressed farther in the 
course of physical evolution. Students of primitive man, 
however, have come to think that the greater part of the 



NATIVE AND ACQUIRED RESPONSES 41 

difference between primitive modes of response and those 
of civilized communities, can be accounted for by the de- 
velopment of traditions, of institutions, and of ideas and 
means of expressing and communicating these ideas, rather 
than by any such physical evolution. If we examine the 
mental capacity of the so-called savage, we find that it does 
not differ as greatly as we have been wont to think from 
that of the civilized person. The chief difference is in the 
ideas regarding what conduct is right or appropriate, and in 
the ideas which comprise our science, art, and letters. This 
comparison rather emphasizes the importance of education 
and of training as distinguished from physical capacity. 

The evidence from individual differences within the same 
community. Besides these differences between people at 
different levels of civilization, we find many differences 
between persons of the same social group. The question 
still remains, then, What is the chief cause of these differ- 
ences between persons who have had in the main the same 
kind of education or training? In the primitive community 
we find certain persons who are leaders and others who seem 
able or disposed only to follow the leadership of another. 
We find some who are capable of innovations of an intel- 
lectual sort, while others merely are capable of understand- 
ing so much of science as has been developed in the past. 
We find some who conform to the customs and ideas of 
morality which are prevalent in the group while others 
assert their own interests and will in opposition to the group. 
We might give many other illustrations of differences be- 
tween persons who are in the same general scale of social 
development. 

Galton's study of English judges gave evidence of the 
inheritance of intellectual capacity. Let us consider for a 
moment the sorts of evidence which have been presented 
to support the view that inborn capacities or traits are 



42 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

important as a factor in the development of the individual. 
The English scientist, Sir Francis Galton, studied the biog- 
raphies of English judges who were on the bench from 1660 
to 1885. He found that of the 286 judges, 109 had eminent 
relatives — an enormously higher percentage than would 
have been found in the case of 286 persons picked at random. 
It appeared, further, that by far the greater number of 
eminent relatives were near relatives — as father, son, or 
brother. These Galton named relatives of the first degree. 
There were about one quarter as many eminent relatives of 
the second degree — uncles, grandfathers, etc. In a word, 
near relatives of eminent persons have a much greater chance 
of being eminent than distant relatives. Finally, it was 
found that more of the judges of the highest eminence, the 
chancellors, had eminent relatives than the rest, the per- 
centage being 80 and 36 respectively. 

Galton's study of twins showed striking similarity due to 
close relationship. Galton also made a study of persons who 
are the most closely related of any, namely, twins, in order 
to see whether their resemblance is due to some capacity or 
trait which is born in them, or to a similarity of early sur- 
roundings. His study was not extremely exact, but it indi- 
cated that if twins were alike, a difference of training or 
surroundings was not likely to modify that similarity. If, 
on the other hand, they seemed not to be particularly alike 
in their original nature, they would not grow alike even 
though they had very similar training. 

Woods traced the inheritance of mental and moral traits 
in royal families. Another study of heredity somewhat sim- 
ilar to Galton's study has been made by F. A. Woods, upon 
royal families in Europe. Here again a study can readily 
be made because there are on record biographies of the vari- 
ous European royal personages and their relatives. Woods 
found that there are different strains among royal families, 



NATIVE AND ACQUIRED RESPONSES 43 

and that in some of these strains there is to be found high 
intellectual ability, and in others a mediocre or low degree 
of ability. He found also that there are specially pronounced 
particular traits which may be followed in certain strains. 
Woods describes a striking case of the transmission of a 
physical characteristic in the Hapsburg lip. One may ob- 
serve this feature in photographs of the present King of 
Spain. It consists of an enlarged lower lip and protruding 
jaw. This trait can be traced back through eighteen gener- 
ations to one of the progenitors of the house in the fourteenth 
century. In a similar manner a strain of insanity was intro- 
duced into the same line by Joanna the Mad, and appears 
in her descendants according to a regular law. In any family 
among her descendants one can predict roughly how many 
will be affected by the mental trait by calculating the pro- 
portion of its ancestry who inherit her blood. 

Davenport and Goddard have made similar studies. A 
similar study of genealogies among American families has 
been made by C. B. Davenport, who is able to trace the 
inheritance of certain traits through many generations. 
Davenport traces the descendants of a remarkable woman 
of colonial times named Elizabeth Tuttle. This woman 
combined extraordinary mental ability with immoral ten- 
dencies. She gave rise to two lines of descendants, both of 
which were remarkable, but in one the immoral trait was 
present and in the other it was not. The most eminent repre- 
sentative of one line was Jonathan Edwards, and of the 
other Aaron Burr. Some of the students of the feeble- 
minded, for example, H. H. Goddard, believe that they 
can demonstrate that feeble-mindedness is passed from 
generation to generation by heredity. From a study of 327 
family histories of feeble-minded persons, Goddard assigns 
heredity as the cause in 54 per cent of the cases, and as the 
probable cause in 11.3 per cent of additional cases. In 



44 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

another 12 per cent the cause assigned is defective nervous 
organization in the ancestry, which appears as feeble- 
mindedness in the offspring. In only 19 per cent of the 
cases are the causes believed to be accidental. 

Eminent families also illustrate inheritance. The way 
in which eminent mental ability may run in a family is illus- 
trated in the accompanying chart (Figure 9) which repre- 
sents several generations of the Darwin family, and the 
related Wedgwood and Galton families. The extraordinarily 
large proportion of eminent men, represented by black 
squares, among the descendants of the three eminent men, 
Josiah Wedgwood, Erasmus Darwin, and Samuel J. Galton, 
is evident at a glance. If we examine the relatives of Charles 
R. Darwin, the great student of evolution, we are struck 
with the eminence of both his ancestors and his descendants. 

Studies in school grades bring out differences in native 
capacity. The notion that a person possesses a certain de- 
gree of intellectual capacity, which can be modified by his 
education only within certain limits, is supported by studies 
which have recently been made in school grades. W. F. 
Dearborn and others have shown that a pupil maintains 
very much the same general rank in the different schools 
which he attends. If he is at the top of his class in the ele- 
mentary school, he is likely to remain near the top in the 
high school and the college. President Lowell of Harvard 
has shown that this correspondence exists between the 
standing of students in the college and in the medical school, 
even though the work taken in the college may be of a clas- 
sical rather than of a scientific nature. 
V Special as well as general ability appears to be inherited. 
There is evidence which leads us to believe that certain par- 
ticular kinds of ability are inherited or possessed by the 
person as inborn capacities. There is evidence, for example, 
that musical ability is something which a person possesses, 



46 



HOW CHILDREN LEARN 



and which, although it requires training to develop, yet can- 
not be created by training. Even a difference in ability in 
addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, indicating 
a superiority in one, or an inferiority in another of these 
operations, may perhaps be traced from parent to child. 

Different degrees of capacity are distributed in a regular 
manner. If these marked differences exist between persons, 






c d 

Fig. 10. Actual Distributions found in Mental 
Measurements 

A. Reaction time of college freshmen. 

B. Efficiency in marking A's on a sheet of printed capitals; twelve-year- 
old boys. 

C. Memory of digits of women students. 

D. Efficiency in writing the opposites of words; twelve-year-old boys. 



due to their native capacities, the question arises as to how 
are they distributed among the individuals of the whole 
population. These differences are sometimes thought of as 
separating people into several groups, according as they 
possess a high degree, a medium degree or a low degree of 
ability. Considerable study has been made, on the basis of 



NATIVE AND ACQUIRED RESPONSES 47 

mental tests and of school grades, of the form of this dis- 
tribution. The general result of the study has been that all 
of the different degrees of ability between both extremes are 
represented. It is further found that more individuals ap- 
pear at the middle point between the extremes than at any 
other point, and that fewer and fewer persons are found as 
we progress from the middle point toward either extreme. 
This means that there are very few persons of either excep- 
tionally good or exceptionally poor ability, but that there 
are a great many of average or about average ability. An 
illustration of the way in which different degrees of a trait 
may be distributed is given in Figure 10, which is taken 
from Thorndike's Individuality. The manner of construc- 
tion of the charts is described in their titles. 

The distribution of capacities should be recognized in 
school organization and in teaching. This form of distribu- 
tion of abilities corresponds to the distribution of different 
degrees of physical traits as, for example, height and weight. 
It may be used in a practical way in assigning school grades, 
provided we use a system of relative marks; or in calculating 
the extent to which any uniform mode of treatment will 
be likely to suit the different persons of a group. If school 
grades are so given that half the class receive the highest 
grade, or a third fail to pass, it is clear that the marks are 
not so distributed as to correspond with the differences in 
ability of the pupils. Yet such extremes of these may be 
found in the marks given by teachers in the same school. 
If, again, a school system is so arranged that one half the 
children cannot do the work which is planned and keep up 
with their grade, while only two or three per cent can do 
work which is superior to that which is supposed to be suited 
to the majority of the children, it is evident that the work is 
not adjusted to suit the ability of the children. 

Degrees of ability in different subjects are related. An- 



48 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

other question which arises, is whether a person is likely to 
take the same rank in tasks involving the different sorts of 
mental ability, or whether he is likely to be highly special- 
ized and to stand near the top of the group in some kinds of 
ability and toward the bottom in others. When we find 
persons standing in about the same rank in different kinds 
of ability, we say that there is correlation between these 
abilities, and when there is no apparent relation in the 
standings in two kinds of ability, we say there is no correla- 
tion. When there is apparent opposition between two sorts 
of ability, we say there is negative correlation. 

There is a higher degree of correlation among some 
traits than among others. In general, the results of tests 
have indicated that there is a fairly high degree of correla- 
tion between what we call the higher mental traits, such 
as memory, the ability to make judgments, the ability to 
reason, and to discriminate between shades of meaning. 
There does not appear, however, to be a close correlation 
between these higher mental traits and the simple elemen- 
tary capacities, such as rapidity of movement, or sensitive- 
ness to differences in sensation. There is low correlation 
between the standing of pupils in manual training on the 
one hand, and in English, mathematics, and science on the 
other, but there is rather a high correlation between the 
academic subjects themselves. Within certain limits we 
can predict that if a pupil does well in one subject he will 
also do well in another, and we know something about what 
those limits are. We know, for example, that the prediction 
is a little more certain in the case of very good or very poor 
pupils than in the case of mediocre ones. This ability to 
predict the degree of ability a person will be able to attain 
in a particular kind of work on the basis of his previous 
achievements may possibly ultimately be developed so as 
to be useful in guiding a youth to the vocation for which he 



NATIVE AND ACQUIRED RESPONSES 49 

is best suited. This will depend on a fuller knowledge of the 
kind of ability which will be required in the various voca- 
tions than we at present possess. 

Zeal must be taken into account as well as ability. Al- 
though this correlation exists, caution is necessary in inter- 
preting the results of any single test of ability. As James 
points out, 1 a person's total performance may not be deter- 
mined merely by his capacity in this or that single mental 
trait, or even in a combination of intellectual capacities, 
but also by the enthusiasm and the persistence with which 
he applies the capacities which he possesses in the pursuit 
of his desires. We must avoid assuming, because there are 
fairly definite limits set to individual capacities, that we 
have discovered what those limits are with reference to any 
particular person. The result of training a person in any 
direction will depend in large measure, it is true, upon the 
ease with which he is able to profit by that training. For 
example, it is not worth while to give a person who is defi- 
cient in musical ability a high degree of musical training. On 
the other hand, if a person desires very intensely to possess 
a certain kind of ability, or if this ability is very essential 
from the point of view of his social usefulness, then a great 
amount of effort may rightly be expended in giving him the 
necessary training. 

There are native differences in all mental traits. Native 
differences between persons exist not merely in intellectual 
capacities, but also in their temperament, their social atti- 
tudes, and the character of their reaction on moral questions. 
We shall see what these differences are when we come to dis- 
cuss social types, and we shall attempt to determine how far 
native tendencies in these directions may be modified by 
education. These temperamental differences and differences 
in a child's social attitudes have to be taken into account, 
1 James, W. Talks to Teachers, p. 113. 



50 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

as well as his intellectual traits, in determining the voca- 
tion for which he is fitted, and his probable success. 

3. The importance of education or training 
In spite of these forms of evidence that the individual's 
development is governed largely by the nature which he 
inherits, we must not conclude that education is of little 
importance. There is perhaps not so much evidence which 
has been collected in a rigid and scientific manner on this 
side of the question. The reason for this probably is that 
the common belief has been that education is all-powerful. 
The need was not felt, therefore, for supporting this belief 
by gathering scientific evidence. Now that the issue has 
been definitely raised, however, some of the evidence which 
exists is being carefully weighed and some scientific work is 
being done in gathering additional evidence. 

Many delinquent children are not defective. In recent 
years, mental and physical tests have been made of many 
children who have committed offenses against the law and 
have been brought into the juvenile court. In very many of 
these cases no inherent defect of either a physical or a men- 
tal nature has been discovered. Many of the children are 
as bright or brighter than the average child. There is some 
difference of opinion as to the proportion of delinquent chil- 
dren who are defective. Different investigators have arrived 
at widely divergent conclusions, but it seems clear, as 
pointed out by Dr. William Healy, of the Chicago Juvenile 
Court, that the children who are brought into the court are 
among the duller of those who have committed offenses; 
and that therefore when we find that a considerable number 
of them are perfectly normal, we must conclude that a still 
larger number of all of the children who are delinquent are 
normal. We must therefore conclude that the offense of 
many of these children is not due to anything peculiar in 



NATIVE AND ACQUIRED RESPONSES 51 

their nature, but to the fact that their ideas or attitudes 
have been warped by the surroundings in which they have 
been brought up. 

A change of environment regenerates many children of 
the slums. This evidence, which has been produced by the 
examination of delinquent children, is backed up by the 
experience with children who are rescued from their evil 
surroundings by philanthropic agencies, and placed in insti- 
tutions or in private homes. Miss Thompson has made a 
study of the records of several hundred such cases in which 
the life of each child was followed for five years after having 
been placed out; and she finds that in the large majority 
of the cases, when the children have been rescued before 
twelve years of age, they lived law-abiding, self-supporting 
lives. 

Individual experience gives evidence of the importance of 
environment. If we examine our own experience, we find 
evidence that the course of the development of our ideas 
and sentiments has been influenced very largely by the 
persons we have met, by the books we have read, and by 
the beliefs or opinions which are current in the social group 
in which we move. It is possible in some cases to point to 
particular sources of influence which have governed much 
of the course of our thinking or action. The demands which 
are made upon us by our vocation have a large influence on 
the course of our development. It is a commonly observed 
fact that one can often detect in the manner and mode of 
thought of a person what vocation he pursues. Even one's 
emotional attitudes depend to some extent upon the char- 
acter of the persons with whom one is in daily contact. 

The child responds differently to different persons. It is 
a matter of common observation that children differ largely 
in their mode of response when they are in the presence of 
different persons. A child is so responsive to his surround- 



m HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

ings that he may seem to be a different creature when under 
the control of different persons. We shall see in the chap- 
ter on Mental Control that in order to enable children, 
especially those who are inclined to nervousness, to gain 
self-command, it is necessary that the persons who surround 
them be calm and self-controlled. Some children are more 
seriously affected by unfavorable surroundings than are 
others. This proves that inborn nature is important. But 
the same children react differently to persons of different 
temperament. This proves the importance of surroundings. 

The influences of early childhood are the most important. 
In general, the early period of childhood is the time in which 
the influences of education and environment are the most 
important. The accounts which we have of the special 
training received by a number of men in their early child- 
hood, which produced in them a very unusual degree of 
early intellectual development, indicate that much more 
can be done to train the child in the ability to think in the 
early years than has been commonly supposed. The auto- 
biography of John Stuart Mill illustrates the possibilities 
of this early training. 

Education gives the tools of thinking. It is clear that one's 
mental development depends on the material and the tools 
of thought which one gets through education. We know 
that language is one of the most important of the conditions 
for thinking. Therefore the type of language which the 
child learns will be of importance in his development. The 
knowledge of certain words makes it possible to think the 
ideas which these words express. The ability to read is a 
necessary condition of obtaining information and intellec- 
tual stimulus from books. Furthermore, the influence of this 
sort of training upon one's mental development is cumula- 
tive. Learning to read does not only give the child a certain 
amount of intellectual training or information, but it opens 



NATIVE AND ACQUIRED RESPONSES 53 

up to him exhaustless fields of information and sources of 
stimulus to thought and reflection. Every new book which 
is mastered opens up avenues of thought and makes possible 
the appreciation of many other books and new systems of 
thought. 

Education affects accomplishment more than capacity. 
In considering the significance of heredity and environment, 
we must recognize that the value and significance of a person 
depends not so much on his ability or his innate capacity as 
it does upon what he is able to accomplish; and what one 
can accomplish or achieve, depends not merely on his capac- 
ity, but also on the sort of training he receives, which 
enables him to use his capacity and develop it into useful 
forms of ability. From the point of view of achievement, as 
distinguished merely from capacity, the mastery of tools of 
intellectual activity, and of the use or application of the prin- 
ciples of mental work, is very important. We shall see in 
the last chapter that there are efficient and inefficient ways 
of working. One can be taught in a large measure the 
efficient as distinguished from the inefficient methods. 
Training, then, may determine to a very great extent 
whether a person shall accomplish much or little. 

Erratic children especially need proper guidance. Train- 
ing is of especial importance in the case of children of a 
particular type. Some children have an especial bent or 
a particular form of capacity in which they are superior. 
They are of a somewhat nervous or unstable temperament, 
however, and if they are not properly treated they will 
develop into one-sided persons who are not able to make 
practical use of their talent. With a proper education so 
as to develop somewhat the weak side of their mind and to 
give proper balance and direction to their efforts, such chil- 
dren may develop into very well-balanced and efficient 
persons. 



54 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

Inheritance gives capacity, education develops it. In 
addition to saying in a general way that a person's develop- 
ment is partly due to his inborn traits and partly to his 
education or training, it is possible to distinguish the kind 
of influence which the one or the other factor exerts. We 
have seen that one's capacity is largely due to his inborn 
nature. On the other hand, the ideas which the individual 
has, and which govern the direction in which his capacities 
will find their development, are largely due to his environ- 
ment and training. For example, the sensations and images 
which are parts of the material of thinking come from ex- 
perience; and the moral standards which a person possesses 
— the estimate of things as being worth while or trivial — 
will be largely adopted from the beliefs and attitudes of his 
associates. The direction in which a person's capacities will 
be applied is fully as important as the degree of those capaci- 
ties themselves. It is a trite saying that the development 
of extraordinary mental abilities is of no value if a person 
exercises them in a baneful direction. Therefore we must 
conclude that education, in determining the kind of training 
which the child should receive, must take account of his 
inborn capacities and traits; but in calculating what the 
final result of his development is to be, it must take account 
also of the influence both of his formal education and of the 
experience which he gains in his life outside of the school. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. Give some definite, practical illustration of a case in which one's view 
regarding the issue of the chapter would be important. 

2. Mention some differences among people whom you have met, which 
are like the differences between primitive and civilized persons, though 
less in degree, and which are due to differences in education. 

3. Describe any striking instances of family resemblances which you may 
have observed. 

4. Why does the likeness between twins have a bearing on the chapter? 

5. Mention several capacities which are necessary to musical talent. 



NATIVE AND ACQUIRED RESPONSES 55 

6. Make a distribution chart to represent the following grades, given 
to a class of students. C, B, E, A, C, D, C. B, C, D, B, B, D, C, C, C, B, 
C, E, C, D, D, C, B, B, B, C, D, C, C, D, B, C, D, C, B, C, A, D, C, 
C, D, C, C. 

7. Give instances you have met of a change in a person produced by a 
change of environment. 

8. Give further specific illustrations of the office of education in giving the 
tools of thinking. 

9. Illustrate further the effect of education on accomplishment as com- 
pared with capacity. 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

Conn, H. W. Social Heredity and Social Evolution, The Other Side of 
Eugenics. (Abingdon Press, 1914.) 

Davenport, C. B. Heredity in Relation to Eugenics, chap. vi. (Holt, 1911.) 

Dearborn, W. F. The Relative Standing of Pupils in the High School and the 
University. (University of Wisconsin Bulletin, no. 312, 1909.) 

Galton, Francis. Hereditary Genius ; an Inquiry into its Laws and Conse- 
quences. (Macmillan, 1892.) 

Galton, Francis. Inquiries into Human Faculty and its Development. 
(Macmillan, 1883.) 

Goddard, H. H. Feeble-Mindedness ; its Causes and Consequences. (Mac- 
millan, 1914.) 

Locke, John. Thoughts on Education. (Cambridge University Press, 1902.) 

Lowell, A. Lawrence. "College Studies and Professional Training"; in 
Educational Review, vol. xlii, pp. 217-33. (October, 1911.) 

Simpson, B. R. Correlations of Mental Abilities. (Teachers College Con- 
tributions to Education, no. 53, 1912.) 

Thompson, Mary H. Environment and Efficiency. (Longmans, 1912.) 

Thorndike, E. L. Measurement of Twins. (Archives of Philosophy, Psy- 
chology, and Scientific Methods, no. 1, Columbia University, 1905.) 

Woods, F. A. Mental and Moral Heredity in Royalty. (Holt, 1906.) 



CHAPTER IV 

THE CHILD'S NATIVE RESPONSES: PLAY 

In order that the education of the child may be effective 
it must suit his capacities as determined by the traits com- 
mon to humanity, by his own peculiar traits, and by the 
stage of development which he has reached. A full discus- 
sion of these matters would form the subject of a book on 
child-study. We can only summarize the most important 
facts in the next four chapters, and refer the reader for a 
fuller account to a book on that special subject. In these 
chapters we shall describe some of the more important native 
responses of the child. We shall not attempt to make a full 
catalogue of his native responses, but only to select such for 
brief treatment as seem to be of greatest practical signifi- 
cance. In a following chapter we shall treat some of the 
more general problems of the child's development. 

1. The instincts and their importance 
The use of the term " instinct." Native or instinctive 
responses are sometimes interpreted in a narrow sense to 
mean only very definite kinds of movements, which the 
person is capable of making without learning, and which he 
makes more or less invariably in response to certain kinds 
of stimuli. The term " instinct," however, may also be 
applied to those more general impulses or interests which 
are embodied now in one and now in another specific form 
of movement. Thus we may catalogue curiosity among the 
instincts, although it is expressed in a great variety of forms 
of response. It may cause the child to handle an object, or 
to attempt to take it to pieces in order to see how it is con- 



NATIVE RESPONSES: PLAY 57 

structed. It may be expressed in walking to some object 
which has excited interest; or, in an older person, it may be 
satisfied by reading or gaining information from a book. 
It is in this sense that we here employ the expression 
" native or instinctive response." In many cases these na- 
tive responses are expressed in certain definite forms, but in 
others the form of expression varies widely. The more 
definite and fixed forms of response are to be thought of as 
based on the activity of the lower level in the nervous sys- 
tem. The development out of these simple activities of the 
broader interests, purposes, and aims, which demand new 
and varied activities for their satisfaction, is due to the 
higher level activities. 

The human being has the instincts necessary to preserve 
life. The human being, in common with animals, possesses 
certain fundamental and simple forms of instinctive ac- 
tivity, which serve to maintain the individual's physical 
existence or the existence of the race. The important 
fundamental instincts are connected with food-getting, the 
avoidance of enemies, the relation between the sexes, and 
the home-building and parental activities. Objection is some- 
times made to classifying the instincts in this way according 
to the results which are obtained by their operation, and the 
attempt is made to observe and catalogue all the detailed 
responses which are made to particular objects. The pro- 
priety of classifying together all the varieties of activities 
which attain a common end rests partly upon the fact that 
it is convenient to regard an individual from the point of 
view of the means by which he maintains his existence, and 
partly upon the fact that the various responses which attain 
a certain end come to be classed together more or less closely 
in the mind of the person who acts, when he becomes con- 
scious of the goal which is unconsciously aimed at in the 
simple, mechanical, instinctive responses, and more or less 



58 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

clearly adopts aims about which are grouped a great variety 
of activities which are not in themselves instinctive. 

The satisfaction of these instincts is attained through 
activities which demand higher mental development. The 
fact that the human being has these instincts in common 
with the lower animals does not mean that they serve merely 
the purpose which is their primary reason for existence. 
The food-getting activity is not merely, as in the case of 
animals, represented by a few definite acts. In the human 
being the acts by which the infant gets its food are simply 
the starting point of his food-getting activities. These are 
simple lower-level activities. The animal in large measure 
continues to get his food in such definite instinctive ways, as 
in stalking, seizing, and devouring his victim. But in the 
child food-getting ultimately develops into a host of new 
and varied kinds of activity. These activities make up our 
agriculture, and much of our commerce, trade, and pro- 
fessional life. They are higher level responses. Thus the 
fundamental instincts, originally represented by a few 
definite, instinctive activities, taking place largely through 
the action of the lower level of the nervous system, develop 
into recognized needs which are satisfied through complex 
and varied occupations, the learning of which employs the 
higher levels. 

The higher development is stimulated by certain less 
definite instinctive impulses. Childhood is the period dur- 
ing which the development of these higher activities that 
serve the fundamental needs takes place. This development 
is brought about by the instrumentality of other activities, 
or impulses to activity, which are native to the child, and 
yet which for the most part are less definite and fixed than 
the primary instincts. These activities are play, including 
manipulation, curiosity, and the social responses. It is 
largely through the play activities, through imitation and 



NATIVE RESPONSES: PLAY 59 

through competition, social cooperation, etc., that the child 
gets the experience and the training which enable him to get 
his living through the less direct methods than those which 
are represented in his fundamental instincts. Just how we 
should place these secondary instinctive activities in the 
nervous system is not certain. They are represented by 
much less definite activities than the more fundamental 
instincts, and probably take place partly on the level of the 
cerebrum. 

These indefinite impulses also satisfy other than life needs. 
These less definite responses not only serve to develop in the 
child those habits by which he will be enabled to satisfy his 
fundamental instincts in human ways, but they also lead 
to the development of aims and interests which do not serve 
these fundamental instincts directly, but which are valued 
for their own sake. In this way are produced our literature, 
science, and art. These more distinctly human activities 
were not developed primarily from the impulse to gain a 
living or to avoid destruction. They grew up along with 
play, when the pressure of physical needs was lessened by 
the development of more efficient ways of meeting them. 

The less definite instincts are largely social. Two types 
of native and instinctive activities or impulses have been 
distinguished. First, there are the very definite sets of 
activities, which are primarily chains of reflexes, and which 
serve the more immediate physical needs. Second, there are 
the less definite types of activity or attitude which serve 
as the motive power for the development in the child of 
new ways, not provided by instincts, for meeting his life 
needs, and which stimulate the development of other human 
activities that satisfy the intellectual and aesthetic inter- 
ests. We may further describe this less definite type of 
native responses by saying that they are in the main social 
in character. It is through imitation, the stimulus and means 



60 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

to communication which is furnished by language, the desire 
for the approval of others and the impetus which comes 
from competition with them, and the like, that these higher 
activities are fostered. Manipulation and curiosity are 
more individual than the rest, but even these are greatly 
influenced by the social group. The family is the first great 
social group in which the child gains the human activities. 
The school comes next in order; and finally he finds himself 
in the larger community and comes under its influences. 

Both sets of activities must be recognized in the school 
and college. In directing the child's education we must 
recognize both these sets of responses. After the child has 
emerged from babyhood, the secondary impulses, such as 
play, imitation, and curiosity, form his chief motive to 
action. His immediate life needs are provided by his par- 
ents, and with these he is not concerned. These secondary 
impulses can be utilized to develop in him certain forms of 
knowledge and skill which will enable him to gain his liveli- 
hood when he is thrown on his own resources. But it is a 
mistake to think that the child must see the purpose and 
value of the things he learns. The social impulse, the artistic 
and intellectual impulses, and the pleasure in successful 
achievement — particularly if it has the approval of his 
associates — these furnish the chief driving power. But 
with the dawn of youth he begins to feel the desire to make 
his own way in the world, — to support himself and to cre- 
ate a home. Now he begins to look forward, and wishes to 
see some connection between his schooling and a future 
vocation. Play and the other secondary activities have 
their place, intensified by the group spirit, but not the 
whole place. At this stage it is a mistake to ignore this strong 
vocational impulse and to attempt to carry on high-school 
and college work simply from motives of culture. The 
student should now begin to lay his plans for preparation 



NATIVE RESPONSES: PLAY r 61 

for his life work, and to arrange his school activities with a 
purpose in mind. The fulfillment of the purpose may be 
remote, and the purpose may change, but it will give a 
stability and earnestness to the work of these years that is 
very likely otherwise to be lacking. 

2. Meaning and value of play 
The child's play is less fixed than the animal's. A funda- 
mental impulse which the child has in common with the 
lower animals is play. 1 Much study has been made of the 
play of animals and of children, in order to find out what 
they have in common. These studies have shown that the 
play of children is very much more varied in its form of 
expression and very much broader in its meaning and 
results than is the play of animals. The play of animals is 
chiefly practice in the development of the instincts which 
will be useful to the animal in its adult life. In the case of the 
child, play is to a much greater extent the development of 
general capacities and powers, which give the child a prepa- 
ration for a great variety of activities. Thus the special 
kinds of play which the child carries on are due more to the 
tradition which is passed down from one generation to 
another than to any definite instincts. 

Play is not of immediate practical use. If we look on 
play from the point of view of its usefulness in maintaining 
the life of the animal, that is, from the biological point of 
view, we find that its aim is not the satisfaction ' of an im- 
mediate need, but rather the development of the animal in 
anticipation of its future needs. In this it is distinguished 
from those instincts which lead to the getting of food, or the 

1 Play is an activity which, from the point of view of the observer, meets 
no need except that of development; and from the point of view of the one 
who plays, is carried on entirely for its own sake and not for the sake of 
the results. 



62 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

avoidance of enemies, or the other more fundamental in- 
stincts. In accordance with this biological nature of play, 
the aim which the animal or the human individual has in 
carrying it on is different from that which is present with 
the more immediately useful kinds of conduct. Play is car- 
ried on for its own sake rather than to serve as a means for 
gaining something else. In this, play differs from work, 
which is carried on for the sake of gaining a reward aside 
from the pleasure in the activity itself. 

The play attitude gradually merges into the work attitude. 
This play attitude, in which the person is absorbed in the 
thing which he is doing instead of in its results, is the domi- 
nant attitude of the young child. It is difficult to get the 
child to do anything unless it is interesting in itself. He 
cannot keep his mind for a considerable length of time upon 
an activity which is uninteresting in itself, because it will 
bring him a pleasant experience later on. This play attitude 
does not break off sharply and give way to the work atti- 
tude. On the contrary, it passes gradually over into the 
other attitude of mind. The child in his play has occasion 
to do things which have their place in the game as a whole, 
but which would not be done merely for their own sake. 
He thus learns gradually to see that the doing of certain 
things, while not in themselves of interest, is necessary to 
accomplish his whole purpose. This adoption of the view 
that certain kinds of activity are related to our wider aims, 
and the acquirement of a readiness to perform them because 
they are a part of a broader purpose, is the means by which 
the child learns to merge the play attitude into the work 1 
attitude. 

Drudgery, as distinguished from work, is without an aim 

1 Work is activity, whether pleasurable or not, which is carried on pri- 
marily to attain some desired end. Drudgery is work without a clear idea 
of a result to be reached or an interest in it. 



NATIVE RESPONSES: PLAY 63 

which gives the activity meaning. We must distinguish 
between an act which is work and one which is regarded as 
drudgery. In both cases the chief stimulus to the activity is 
some end or motive outside itself; but in the case of work 
the activity is recognized to be a means to some result 
which we desire to accomplish, while in the case of drudgery, 
it is something which merely has to be got through with. 
Drudgery, then, is work done in an attitude of mind which 
is produced when one is forced to perform something of 
which he cannot see the purpose or the aim. When work is 
done to attain a result in which the worker is interested, the 
work itself acquires a meaning and interest. When work is 
performed simply from compulsion it is liable to become 
increasingly distasteful. The development of the work atti- 
tude instead of the attitude of drudgery is accomplished by 
accustoming the child to hold in mind gradually more re- 
mote objects or aims, while still retaining his interest in 
the immediate activity because it is a means to the accom- 
plishment of his purpose. 

The doctrine of play, or of interest, has been adversely 
criticized. This account of the meaning of play suggests the 
doctrine that the work of the school should be so conducted 
that the child will be interested in it; because it is clear that 
being interested is very much the same as having the play 
attitude. There is no doubt that there was much room for 
criticism in the older school because it made no appeal to 
the interests of the child. On the contrary, the teacher de- 
manded that he perform his tasks regardless of whether he 
cared anything about them or not; and it was supposed 
that he was gaining the most important kind of mental 
discipline from the effort which he expended in doing that 
in which he was not interested. To conduct the work of the 
school so that it should appeal to the child was branded 
" soft pedagogy," which, it was argued, would develop 



64 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

moral and intellectual weaklings. On the other hand, the 
opponents of this doctrine of effort pointed out that neither 
the child nor the adult really puts forth his full effort when 
he is acting from compulsion, but only when he is interested 
in- his task. Under such circumstances one only gives so 
much of his attention as is absolutely necessary, and there- 
fore gains neither intellectual nor moral discipline. 

The solution of the conflict between the doctrines of 
interest and of effort. We see from the above account of the 
matter that the conflict between the doctrine of interest * 
and the doctrine of effort may be solved. The child should 
not be encouraged, on the one hand, to act merely when the 
thing of the moment appeals to him. This is the extreme 
form of the application of the doctrine of interest in which 
the child adopts wholly the play attitude. Yet a person does 
not naturally expend effort unless he sees the purpose of 
what he is doing or sees how it is related to something which 
he desires. When we attempt to arouse in the child effort 
without any purpose, we are in reality using as a motive the 
fear of punishment or of disapprobation, or of other un- 
pleasant consequences, which is entirely extraneous to the 
thing which he is doing. The only proper solution of the 
problem is one in which interest and effort are both included, 
and in which their proper relation is kept. Interest should 
be of such a nature that the child's effort is called out in 
prosecuting it to its conclusion. Effort should be expended, 
in the main, in carrying on an activity which possesses a 
positive interest for the child instead of merely for the sake 
of avoiding something which is unpleasant. 

Play is not the chief guide in determining what the child's 

1 Interest is an attitude of mind toward a course of action or an object 
in which one is impelled from within to carry on the action, or to give 
attention to, examine, handle, approach or in other ways act toward the 
object; and in which the satisfaction of this impulse gives pleasure. 



NATIVE RESPONSES: PLAY 65 

education should be. Play should not be the only form of 
activity or the chief form of activity in the child's educa- 
tion, but should rather be employed as one among several 
forms, all of which are necessary for complete education. 
To a limited extent the play impulses of the child may 
serve as a guide in determining what kind of activities are 
good for his general development. To a large extent the 
play impulse may be employed for the purpose of awaken- 
ing in the child a motive to an activity which the school and 
society have determined to be for his best present or future 
interests to perform. There are many things which the child 
must learn in order to prepare him for the life which he shall 
live when he has grown up. Play may be used in teaching 
him these things, but the play impulse does not furnish a 
guide as to what they are. In brief, play is a valuable instru- 
ment in education but does not give the means of deter- 
mining what the content or aim of education should be. 

Play as a means of drill, and spontaneous plays and 
games, should both be employed. Play may be used in the 
school in two ways. As has been suggested, the child's play 
interests may be used to lead him to a repetition of the 
acts which will fix them either as habits of movement or 
of thought, — that is, play is useful as a means of making 
drill interesting. 1 On the other hand, the spontaneous play 
of the child or the organized form of play which is a later 
outgrowth of his simple, spontaneous play, should be fos- 
tered as an important means of general development. The 
games which the child carries on in the playground, or the 
social forms of amusement, are not to be regarded only as 
concessions to his desire for relaxation. They should be 
consciously adopted by the school as an important means to 

1 Drill consists in repeating an activity, not for the sake of understand- 
ing, but to increase one's facility or skill, or to 6x associations in the 
memory. 



66 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

his social and physical development. Association in games 
is one of the best means of educating the child in dealing 
harmoniously with other people; and it has come to be re- 
cognized that the vigorous and pleasurable movements of 
the body in play are the best means of physical development. 
In directing the child's spontaneous plays or games it is 
necessary to know how his play interests or his capacity 
for different kinds of play change with age. We shall, there- 
fore, describe the kinds of play which are suited to the child 
in the different periods of his life. 

3. Changes with age in play 

Play in infancy. In the period of infancy, during the first 
two years of life, the child's play is chiefly of three sorts: 
making movements for the pleasure of making the move- 
ment itself, seeking stimulation through sensations, and 
producing effects through handling objects. 

Movement play in infancy. Making movements is one of 
the most pleasurable forms of experience for the infant. He 
makes a great variety of spontaneous movements, such as 
waving his arms and legs, swaying his body, and rolling 
about; and he also greatly enjoys making the more organized 
movements by which he gains control over his body. He 
learns in this way to balance his body in sitting, in standing, 
and finally in walking, running, and climbing. Gaining a 
mastery over these forms of movement is rightly to be 
regarded as play because the child's aim is the movement 
itself, and his satisfaction is the pleasure he gains from mak- 
ing it. As soon as the child has gained sufficient control 
to enable him to use these movements to gain other ends, 
such as walking to get some object, the activity ceases to be 
play. 

The infant takes great pleasure in sensations. The infant 
is also tremendously interested in all sorts of intense sensa- 



NATIVE RESPONSES: PLAY 67 

tions. He enjoys bright colors, loud sounds, sensations which 
he gets through handling objects, etc. The propensity of 
the child to carry objects to his mouth is probably due to 
this pleasure in touching objects. The lips are the most 
sensitive to touch of any part of the body, and the child, 
by carrying objects to his lips, gets a fuller experience of 
them than when he merely touches them with his hands. 
The great and universal attraction which the rattle has for 
infants is explained by the fact that it involves both these 
forms of play. The child, in shaking the rattle, makes 
vigorous movements, and at the same time gets sensations 
of sight, of sound, and of touch. 

The infant's play with objects consists in " hustling 
things about." In addition to making movements and gain- 
ing sensations the child also greatly enjoys producing such 
effects with objects as shall give him a sense of power or of 
accomplishment. This is undoubtedly a fundamental source 
of satisfaction, which serves to explain and to bring together 
into the same class a great variety of actions. It explains 
the interest which we have in all those kinds of constructive 
activity in which we are reasonably successful, because by 
them we produce effects which are evident to us, and which 
display in some concrete form the results of our effort. The 
earliest form of this general kind of activity has usually not 
been classed with construction, but it is evidently based on 
the same kind of satisfaction. This very simple form of deal- 
ing with objects is called by Groos " hustling things about," 
because it consists merely in moving things from one place 
to another. The child runs through the house and tears up 
rugs, or pulls the books off the table, or in any way makes a 
change in the location of objects. This is his means of pro- 
ducing an effect, and it undoubtedly gives him a pleasurable 
feeling of power. 

The next stage of play with objects is destruction. The 



68 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

next stage is one in which the effect produced is still more 
striking. This form of play has been contrasted with con- 
structive activity and has been called " destruction." As a 
matter of fact, destruction and construction, while different 
in their results, are probably alike in their motive. Some of 
the child's destruction is undoubtedly due to curiosity — he 
wishes to see the wheels go round, or to see how a thing is 
made. Much of it is probably due to the fact that he is not 
yet capable of building up things, and so he resorts to the 
simpler operation of tearing down. 

Simple dramatic play begins in infancy. In addition to 
these three chief forms of play, there are some slight begin- 
nings of dramatic or make-believe play in this period. The 
child will put on a hat and say he is going to the store, or 
take his father's walking-stick and pretend that he is out 
walking. This play is always very simple, 

The infant's play is not social. In this period there is very 
little social play. The infant plays largely by himself be- 
cause he has not yet reached sufficient mental development 
to be able to play with others. He enjoys older persons as 
companions, to be sure, so that they may form an audience 
for his play, or may help him; but he is not capable of any 
cooperation. If a companion is doing something which is 
interesting, the infant wishes to do the same thing. He has 
not sufficient self-control to suffer a division of the roles in 
the game, and to take only a particular share for himself. 

The play of early childhood. In early childhood, from 
about two until eight years of age, the child retains his 
enjoyment in some of the same sorts of play as were carried 
on in the first period, but his activities become more com- 
plex. For instance, his movements are intensified by the 
use of apparatus such as the swing, the giant-stride, the 
seesaw, or the rocking-horse. 

Play with objects develops into simple kinds of construe- 



NATIVE RESPONSES: PLAY 69 

tion. The early form of construction is one in which objects 
are combined in simple ways as in play with blocks. After 
he has acquired a little skill, the child may do the more 
difficult things, such as cutting out paper and nailing and 
pasting objects together. In the constructive play of this 
period the child wishes to make something which has a 
meaning. The child is neither interested in the perfection of 
skill or technique, nor in making objects which are so well 
constructed that they will work, or be of practical use. He 
is satisfied if the thing can be recognized as the thing he 
intended, and may stand as a symbol for it. 

The most radical development in this period is the growth 
of dramatic play. The child of this period is continually 
making-believe that he is somebody else, and the objects 
about him fit into the drama which he is enacting. The 
common games of young children illustrate this attitude of 
mind. Observers have recorded the fact that boys play such 
games as Indian, policeman, soldier, motorman, or postman. 
In this play the boy lives through the life of the men whose 
activity he observes or hears about, and whose activities 
he can comprehend. The girl at this age plays house or 
school, or plays with dolls. She also lives through the life of 
older people who carry on activities which are appropriate 
to her. The difference between the play of boys and girls 
at this period is probably not chiefly an expression of a dif- 
ference in their natures, but is one which they are led to 
adopt through convention. If boys are not discouraged, 
they often play with dolls until they are six or seven years 
of age. Ordinarily the conversation and the influence of 
older persons directs their attention toward the occupations 
of men, and the attention of girls toward the occupations 
of women. 

Play is social but not cooperative. Play in this period is 
carried on with others, and so is social, but is not, except to 



70 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

a very slight extent, cooperative. Each child wishes to do 
the most interesting thing or wishes to do the same thing 
which others are doing. There may be a change through 
taking turns, but ordinarily each one is in competition in- 
dividually for the most desirable part in the game. 

Play of later childhood : at about eight years the make- 
believe attitude wanes. In the period of later childhood, 
from about eight to twelve, the child changes from the 
make-believe attitude to a more matter-of-fact attitude of 
mind, and this is very clearly brought out in his play. If one 
observes the child of the previous period, one will see that 
he is almost continually living through some kind of drama. 
He seems very much of the time to be in a sort of dream 
world, and it is difficult to recall him to the matter-of-fact 
needs and demands of the world about him. He is satisfied 
by the things which he can do in this imaginary world, and 
does not feel keenly his deficiency in dealing with the real 
world. 

The transition appears in drawing, movement play, and 
constructive activities. Observers have pointed out that at 
about this period the child awakens to a realization of the 
inadequacy of his make-believe view. He recognizes in his 
drawing, for example, that the highly symbolic figures 
which represent various objects, such as a house or a man, 
have very little resemblance to the things which they stand 
for. He recognizes, further, that the things which he con- 
structs could not be actually used to serve practical needs. 
He therefore develops an interest in gaining such a mastery 
or control as will enable him to deal effectively with the 
actual facts of the world about him. He becomes interested, 
for instance, not merely in making movements, but in devel- 
oping skill of movement, or strength, or speed. He measures 
his movements, as when he attempts to jump certain dis- 
tances, or certain heights, or to run with a certain speed. 



NATIVE RESPONSES: PLAY 71 

He becomes interested in mechanical contrivances and in 
knowing how they work so that he can understand or make 
them. There is a development of his constructive interest 
and ability. 

The puzzle interest culminates in this period. The child 
develops during this period an interest in testing his mental 
powers also, not for the purpose of accomplishing some out- 
ward result, but for the purpose of displaying his skill. This 
sort of interest is aroused in solving puzzles, and it has been 
found that the interest in puzzles reaches its culmination at 
about the twelfth year. This fact leads to a comment on the 
well-known view that the child is not capable of anything 
in the way of reasoning or thinking except of a routine sort. 
His education, it is said, should consist merely in memoriz- 
ing and drill, — that is, in the development of non-rational 
habits. If this type of education is given, it may discourage 
the development of an interest in intellectual activity, but 
there is ample evidence that the interest exists. This inter- 
est should be encouraged so that it has an opportunity for 
expression in the child's work in school as well as in his 
outside activities. 

Individual competition is prominent. The interest in the 
development of skill finds its expression in the enjoyment 
of competition between pairs. The pleasure in learning to 
make movements skillfully and rapidly is enhanced by the 
pleasure of making them more skillfully and more rapidly 
than some one else. The boy keeps a definite record of his 
achievements to compare it with the record of others, and 
also to compare it with his own past record. This interest 
in definite accomplishment should be used more largely than 
it is in encouraging the child to gain a mastery over the 
problems in school. This may be done by making careful 
tests, as in arithmetic, handwriting, or spelling, and by 
stimulating the child continually to improve his record. 



72 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

Simple drama may be written and played. Dramatic play, 
while it is not carried on so spontaneously as in the earlier 
period, and although it does not dominate the child's whole 
mental attitude, may still be enjoyed; and because of the 
child's greater mental development, it may be carried on in 
a more highly organized form. The child in this period may 
participate in both the production and the representation 
of simple drama. He is particularly capable of this kind of 
representation because he is not yet sufficiently self-con- 
scious to make it difficult for him to appear before others. 

There is simple cooperation. There is some cooperation 
in the play of this period, but it is of a rather loosely organ- 
ized form. It is incorrect to say, in this as in other matters, 
that the child develops an entirely new form of activity at 
a certain definite period. We shall find that at adolescence 
the most prominent form of development is in socially 
organized play. This development is anticipated, however, 
by play in groups during later childhood. 

Play of adolescence: competition is intense and is gov- 
erned by rules. In the adolescent 1 period from twelve to 
maturity, as in the two previous periods, the kinds of play 
which characterize the child persist ; but certain of them are 
more highly developed, and certain kinds are emphasized 
more than others. Individual competition continues and 
becomes very intense. This is illustrated in boxing, wres- 
tling, fencing, and in more elaborate games, such as tennis. 
These games also illustrate another feature of the play of 
this period, namely, that it is characterized by complex 
rules. These rules govern every phase of the game, and are 
strictly adhered to. The younger child in his games makes 

1 Adolescence is the period of youth. It is the time when the body 
attains its maturity, and is marked by the maturing of the social and sex 
instincts. The time of beginning varies widely, but is usually about eleven 
years for girls and thirteen years for boys. 



NATIVE RESPONSES: PLAY 73 

his rules as he goes along, or may break them if he can gain 
the consent of his comrades; but the youth has a keener 
sense of law and of the necessity of conforming to it. 

Constructive and dramatic play are modified. The con- 
structive and mechanical forms of play also develop and 
become connected with more serious purposes, so that they 
are not merely forms of play but may be carried on with a 
vocational motive. The interest becomes more continuous 
and may be given to a project requiring a longer time for its 
completion. Dramatic performance becomes for a time 
more difficult on account of the increase of self -consciousness. 

The social games are highly organized. The most sig- 
nificant and characteristic form of development in play 
during adolescence is the growth of group games. In a 
group game the interest in individual success or the display 
of individual prowess is overshadowed by the desire for the 
success of the team. The pleasure of succeeding is enhanced 
by the fact that it is accompanied not merely by one's own 
self-approbation, but also by the approbation of the group 
to which one belongs. There is also the feeling of loyalty to 
the group as a result of which the individual gains pleasure 
from the success of the team without regard to his personal 
success. This group loyalty is expressed in subordination 
to a leader. The leader represents the interests of the group, 
and is a leader by virtue of the fact that he can promote the 
success of the group as a whole. Subordination to the will of 
the leader, as representing the whole group, may go so far 
as to lead to sacrifice of one's individual success in the game. 
This is illustrated by the well-known play in baseball called 
a sacrifice hit. In this play the batter hits the ball in such a 
way that he is likely to be put out, but so that the runner 
on the base will be advanced toward the home plate, and 
the likelihood of the side's making a score will be increased. 
The same self-subordination is illustrated in football, in 



74 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

which only a few members of the team run with the ball, 
although other players may do equally important service in 
opening a way for the runner, or in protecting him from 
being tackled. 

Group loyalty is valuable, but may be narrow. This devel- 
opment of group loyalty is the foundation of social conscious- 
ness which causes the individual to identify his interests 
with those of the group to which he belongs. It may, it is 
true, be accompanied by antagonism to other groups with 
which one's own group comes into competition. It may 
thus be narrow and partisan, and do harm by the fact that 
it creates division in the larger community. If the develop- 
ment of group loyalty remains narrow in its scope, it may 
develop into the spirit of caste, or the exaggerated spirit 
of nationality, of which we frequently see evidence. The 
difficulty, however, is not in the spirit of loyalty itself but in 
the fact that it has been too narrowly applied, and the rem- 
edy is to extend it by cooperation with wider and wider 
groups. 

Group games involve specialization. In group games the 
efficiency of each player is increased by specialization, and 
by careful and extended training for the performance of his 
special part. The child takes with equal readiness different 
parts in the game; but the youth, by taking the part for 
which he is best fitted, gives the best services of which he is 
capable. The rules which govern such groups are complex 
and rigid, as in the case of games involving individual com- 
petition which have been mentioned. 

The changed relation between boys and girls appears in 
play. In the earlier periods boys and girls either play to- 
gether on the same footing, or boys play by themselves and 
girls by themselves, because of their different interests. In 
the games of adolescence there is another relationship which 
develops, due to the fact that the boys in their games are 



NATIVE RESPONSES: PLAY 75 

conscious of the approval and favor of the girls who are the 
spectators of their combats. This introduces an element 
into play due to the growing difference between the sexes, 
and to their changed attitude toward each other. There are 
other games, such as dancing, in which the relationship be- 
tween boys and girls as members of the opposite sex is one 
of the chief elements. This form of play appears promi- 
nently in the latter part of the adolescent period. 

Intellectual competition is carried on. There also devel- 
ops in the latter part of this period an interest in combat 
which is intellectual in its nature rather than physical, — 
that is, debating. The interest in debating is not so intense 
as the interest in the more vigorous forms of physical 
play, but by encouragement it may develop and lead to the 
awakening and strengthening of the interest in intellectual 
pursuits. Debate, to be of value in the development of 
intellectual sincerity, should be the expression of genuine 
conviction on the part of the participants, and not, as is 
too often the case, mere intellectual juggling. 

Intellectual competition between classes gives whole- 
some stimulus. This interest in intellectual competition 
may be applied to very good advantage by introducing 
rivalry between classes or sections of classes. In class com- 
petition there is much less danger of the growth of the feel- 
ing of personal animosity that frequently accompanies in- 
dividual rivalry. Furthermore, the task can be better suited 
to the individual ability of each member of the class, and 
each may contribute to the success of the group according 
to his ability. In individual competition, if one of the rivals 
is inferior to the other he is beaten before he begins, because 
of his handicap. Group competition also encourages group 
loyalty, which has already been described. It is therefore 
desirable to take advantage of this cooperative spirit in 
intellectual work, as in the youth's spontaneous games. 



76 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

Group feeling in general is characteristic of the youth. 
In general, we have seen that the play during adolescence is 
modified largely by the new social feelings which develop 
at this time. The youth feels himself to exist in a commu- 
nity with others. He feels that his interests are bound up in 
their interests, and that his welfare is to be worked out by 
bringing about the welfare of the whole group. This sense 
of solidarity is perhaps greater at this period even than it 
will be in adulthood. The adult develops interests which are 
connected with his family and the necessity of maintaining 
its welfare. These cares and interests in a measure separate 
him from others through the competition which is stimu- 
lated by them. The youth does not feel the responsibility 
for these matters, and therefore there is greater opportunity 
for the development and expression of group feelings. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. Is the statement that the work of the school should be made to meet 
some need of the child equivalent to the doctrine that the work of the 
school should be given direct practical meaning? Support your answer. 

2. What is the relation between play and recreation? Between play and 
amusement? 

3. Give illustrations of what you would regard as opposite errors with 
reference to interest. 

4. What can be done to aid the infant in his play? 

5. Mention kindergarten and primary games that are in accord with the 
nature of the play impulse of this period. 

6. Mention any changes in school demands or activities in the intermedi- 
ate grades which take account of the matter-of-fact attitude. 

7. What is the bearing of the youth's disposition toward group action and 
his group loyalty on the problem of the high school fraternity? 

8. What are the dangers connected with school teams and contests be- 
tween teams? Interschool debating? 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

Appleton, L. E. Play of Adult Savages and Civilized Children. (University 

of Chicago Press, 1910.) 
Curtis, Henry S. The Practical Conduct of Play. (Macmillan, 1915.) 



NATIVE RESPONSES: PLAY 77 

Dewey, J. Interest and Effort in Education. (Houghton Mifflin Co., 1913.) 
Fiske, John. The Meaning of Infancy. (Houghton Mifflin Co., 1909.) 
Groos, K. Play of Animals. Translated by E. L. Baldwin. (D. Appleton 

& Co., 1898.) 
Groos, K. Play of Man. Translated by E. L. Baldwin. (D. Appleton & Co., 

1901.) 
Gulick, L. H. "Psychological, Pedagogical and Religious Aspects of 

Groups Games"; in Ped. Sem., vol. 6, pp. 135-50. (1898.) 
Kirkpatrick, E. A. The Individual in the Making. (Houghton Mifflin Co., 

1911.) 
Kirkpatrick, E. A. Fundamentals of Child Study, chap. ix. (Macmillan, 

1903.) 
Lee, Joseph. Play in Education. (Macmillan, 1915.) 
Wilson, H. B., and G. M. The Motivation of School Work. (Houghton 

Mifflin Co., 1916.) 



CHAPTER V 

IMITATION AND SELF-ASSERTION 

1. The social attitudes 

We have already found it necessary in the chapter on 
" Play " to make many comments upon the influence of 
other persons on the child's attitudes and activities. In 
most of the child's play, what he does, or the manner in 
which he does it, or the motives which impel him to act, 
come from the presence of other persons or his thought of 
other persons. It is possible to find illustrations of most of 
the phases of the child's social development from his play 
life. Many of these have been remarked upon incidentally. 
It will be the mission of the next chapters to describe the 
child's feelings toward other persons and the influence of 
other persons upon him in a more systematic way. Some of 
the attitudes which will be described are not confined solely 
to other persons, but they all take place most commonly in 
relation to others, or grow out of the child's consciousness 
of himself, which has been developed through his reactions 
to others and others' reactions toward him. 

Imitation is very prominent in the child's activities. The 
observer of the child cannot fail to note frequent instances 
of imitation very early in his life. The little boy likes to 
take his father's hat and cane and pretend that he is going 
for a walk. The little girl will have a bit of cloth and a needle 
and thread, and at least go through the general motions of 
sewing. The child sees his father reading a newspaper and 
he must have one to read too, although for a time he is as 
well satisfied when the paper is upside down as when it is 
right side up. The imitation, in such a case, is of a merely 



IMITATION AND SELF-ASSERTION 79 

external sort, but it paves the way for a real imitation as 
the child's development makes it possible. The child's 
speech gives continual illustration of his disposition to imi- 
tate. He first imitates merely the general intonation and 
sequence of sounds. Later he imitates the sounds of words 
quite precisely. It is only through the process of imitation 
that the child who is brought up in one country learns the 
speech which is spoken by the people of that land, rather 
than the speech of other peoples. As the child grows into the 
youth still other forms of imitation appear. He imitates the 
dress and the manner, and even, we may say, the standards 
and the ideas of the society about him. 

Imitation conserves social progress. If we look at the 
matter broadly we can see how this tendency of the indi- 
vidual child to duplicate the actions and attitudes of people 
about him is one of the most prominent means by which 
groups of people develop and maintain certain modes of 
living. The child of the American Indian learned to hunt 
and fish, to endure great physical hardship, to fight and re- 
venge himself of wrong, and to live a roving life. The child 
of the white man, who displaced the Indian, learned to read 
and write, to cooperate with his fellows in making elaborate 
laws, and to maintain such institutions as the school, the 
court, the legislature, and the church. He learned the art 
of tilling the ground and of simple manufacture. In the 
external mode of life, and in the idea of what was right or 
wrong, or what is to be admired or to be despised, the child 
of the white man became very different from the child of the 
Indian. But it is only to a minor degree that we can account 
for these differences by any inborn or native characteristics. 
They are differences of up-bringing or training, and the 
factor which produced these differences was the disposition 
of each child to imitate the mode of life which he saw going 
on about him. 



80 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

Imitation describes the child's attitude as well as his 
actions. It is entirely clear that the child is stimulated to 
do such things because he observes other people doing these 
things. We might account for this fact without supposing 
that the child wished primarily to copy others. It has been 
supposed by some that the child's sole desire was to find out 
more about the actions which he saw others performing by 
performing them himself, and so getting them in a more 
direct way into his own experience. That is, we may think of 
the child's attitude of mind as something like this : " That 
thing which that person is doing looks very interesting; I 
wonder what it feels like to do that. I think I shall find out 
by doing it myself." No doubt this attitude of mere curios- 
ity is responsible for a good part of the child's imitation, — 
or possibly most of it. It seems very likely, however, that 
the child is also impelled to imitate by a general desire to par- 
ticipate in the life about him. If we may read into the child's 
experience the experience of older persons in this matter, it 
seems unquestionable that he likes to feel himself to be a 
member of the group, and that he gets this feeling by acting 
like others of the group. It gives one a feeling of uneasiness 
to act in a radically different way from one's companions. 
This indicates a very strong impulse to conformity on the 
part of human beings. Why then should we not suppose 
that the child gets satisfaction from those actions in which 
he conforms to the mode of life of people about him? In fact, 
it seems very plausible to suppose that this motive is strong 
in the child in proportion as his definite instincts are inade- 
quate to give him the training necessary as a preparation 
for his later life. The willingness of the child to go to school 
and to acquire the social arts must be ascribed to his desire 
to adopt the activities of other people. 

Emotions are communicated through reflex imitation. 
There are certain forms of imitation which the child has in 



IMITATION AND SELF-ASSERTION 81 

common with many of the lower animals. The chicken can 
communicate to other chickens the attitude of fear by 
means of the danger call. This is also characteristic of 
other animals. Similarly the expression of the emotion of 
fear through a cry, through the expression of face or the 
bodily attitude, is communicated from one person to another. 
The same is true of other emotions, such as anger, and of the 
less definite feeling attitudes, which we call moods. Dejec- 
tion or joy may be spread from one person to another by 
the unconscious reflex power of the imitation of the other's 
expression. 

The teacher or parent is largely responsible for the child's 
mood. If moods can be thus communicated, it is clear that a 
child will be more or less permanently affected by the domi- 
nant mood of the person with whom he is associated for a 
large part of his waking life. Observation confirms this con- 
clusion. Attitudes of calmness, of joyousness, of confidence 
and optimism, and of politeness and consideration, are best 
developed by contagion. Preaching is without effect if the 
practicing of the teacher is contrary to the preaching. It 
is of very little value in comparison with a good example. 

The child enters imaginatively into the life of others in 
dramatic imitation. Make-believe play has already been 
fully dealt with in the previous chapter. It may be pointed 
out here that this is the means by which the child is enabled 
to go beyond direct imitation by the use of imagination. By 
imaginatively acting out a character, he throws himself into 
a particular type of personality without having to be 
directly influenced by another person's presence. In the 
earliest stages of dramatic imitation the child simply goes 
through the form of another's outward action, but in 
its later more developed stages he acts out his conception 
of another's character. Thus the young man or woman who 
culers into a profession does not simply go through the mo- 



82 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

tions of that profession, but for a time also acts a part. The 
part which he acts will depend on his idea of what a member 
of his profession should be, and this idea is often adopted 
from some prominent member of the profession whom he 
has known or read about. What he does or does not do will 
be influenced by his ideas of what is appropriate to a mem- 
ber of his profession. In time he actually grows into the 
character which has existed at first as an ideal or concept in 
the mind. This process may also be thought of as taking 
place in a more general fashion. One becomes a person of a 
certain character because at the beginning he thinks of him- 
self in imagination as having that character. 

Acts of skill are learned in part by copying others. In the" 
later description of sensori-motor learning we shall see that 
there are many ways in which one may profit by observing 
others who are skilled in the act which we wish to learn. 
There are some features of such an act which we can only 
acquire through our own individual practice, but there are 
others which we can be saved from learning in a blind fash- 
ion by good models. The child does not have to learn 
through blind trial how best to hold his pen in writing — at 
least so far as the chief features of the matter are concerned. 
These have been discovered in the past, and he can learn 
them by observing others or by being told how to act. The 
same is true of handling any tools, or of learning games of 
skill or gymnastic feats. It is important that the child be 
saved useless experimentation in such matters as he can 
learn through imitation. The development of an act of skill 
is not useful mainly as an opportunity for thinking, and 
therefore the value of independent experimentation in this 
field is very little. It is very important, therefore, that the 
teacher of any act of skill should be able to show the child 
how the act is to be performed. He must therefore have 
skill in the act himself. 



IMITATION AND SELF-ASSERTION 83 

In suggestion the ideas or attitudes of others are adopted 
uncritically. We are concerned in suggestion not so much 
with the communication of general moods or feelings from 
person to person in a reflex manner, which has already been 
described, but with the communication of more definite 
ideas or attitudes toward particular things as a result of 
the influence of one person upon another. The person who 
receives the suggestion is not aware of the manner in which 
he is influenced. A simple illustration may be taken from 
the experiments on report. If a person is asked to report 
from memory what he has seen in a picture, he can frequently 
be led into saying that he saw objects that were not in the 
picture at all. If one asks such a question as, " What kind 
of picture was hanging on the wall ? " when, in fact, there 
was no picture at all, he will frequently obtain from his 
subject a definite description of a picture. In the Binet 
tests the child is shown six pairs of lines to compare in 
length, one at a time. In the first three the line upon the 
right-hand side is longer than the line upon the left-hand 
side. In the next three both lines are equal. The child will 
very frequently continue to say that the right-hand line is 
longer, or in some cases he will be led by negative sugges- 
tion to report that the left-hand line of one or more of the 
last three pairs is the longer. In every-day school practice 
the child is very frequently influenced in his response by the 
manner of the question. Such a question as, " Do you not 
think that this picture is pretty, or that this person in the 
story did right? " directly suggests an answer. From the 
point of view of a test of the child's judgment such responses 
are of no value whatever. Such questions are called in courts 
of law leading questions. Their use with children may be 
allowable in those cases in which the teacher wishes to form 
the child's opinion, but if the aim is to develop the child's 
own judgment or to discover what the child's judgment is, 



84 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

then a question which does not imply its answer must be 
used. 

Suggestion is a legitimate means of moral training. The 
view that the child should develop independently of social 
influence would not permit of the use of suggestion in the 
growth of his moral ideas and standards. But such a view 
is contrary to the obvious facts of human nature. Persons 
who have been brought up to different views on some moral 
question, such, for example, as the observance of Sunday, 
or the use of alcoholic beverages, are ready to defend their 
views with arguments, and believe that their view is based 
upon a rational interpretation of the reasons for their con- 
duct. The fact that the large majority of people accept, in 
the main, the belief in which they were brought up, and 
that people who have been brought up differently will de- 
fend with equal force their opposing views, indicates that 
these views have been developed chiefly through suggestion 
and not through deliberate thought. Reflection is resorted 
to in explaining or in justifying one's views, but in most 
cases it was not used originally in forming those views. It is 
true, of course, that the more enlightened and independent 
individuals develop more or less away from the traditional 
beliefs of parents or teachers, but this independent thinking 
is seldom as important as the less conscious influence of 
early examples and teaching. 

Desirable suggestions are a defense against undesirable 
ones. As the child grows older he becomes more independent 
in his moral judgment; but he seldom modifies the main 
foundation of his moral attitudes, and in the period of child- 
hood this foundation is largely laid by suggestion. The 
child is open to suggestion whether we will or no, and our 
only choice is to see that the suggestions are good rather 
than evil. The conversation in the home, the manner of 
speaking concerning other persons and their actions, or 



IMITATION AND SELF-ASSERTION 85 

even the tone of voice or facial expression with which an 
act is referred to, has a strong influence in forming the child's 
own attitudes. The child may acquire a strong immunity 
to direct attempts to influence him by preaching, but he is 
always sensitive to the standards of conduct which the peo- 
ple about him are observed actually to live by. It is doubtful 
whether much talking about principles of right conduct is a 
successful method of moral training in the school; but the 
child may be strongly influenced by the attitude which he 
observes the teacher, or elders, or the other children to take 
with reference to particular acts which take place under his 
observation, or with reference to the conduct or attitude of 
those about whom he reads. 

The influence of suggestion is opposed by the critical atti- 
tude. The reason that suggestion has force over us is that 
we do not meet it by ideas which would serve the basis of an 
independent judgment. The extreme form of this giving up 
to suggestion from without is seen in hypnotism. Suggestion 
may go so far in the hypnotic state that a person will believe 
a blank piece of paper to be a check. We may describe the 
state of mind to be one in which all of the mental processes 
except those through which the suggestion comes are asleep, 
or at least are not brought to bear upon the idea which is 
presented. The ability to bring one's experiences and ideas 
to bear upon a suggestion, in order to judge of it independ- 
ently, is one which develops with age. Its development is 
dependent partly upon the acquirement of those experiences 
which will serve to check up the presented idea, and partly 
upon the attitude of self-possession in which one preserves 
his own independence or judgment in the face of outside 
influence. This attitude is a desirable one to produce in the 
child. We must recognize, however, that the child is rela- 
tively incapable of it in his early years; and while the atti- 
tude of openness to suggestion should not be encouraged, we 



86 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

must recognize its existence, and, particularly in the realm 
of moral education, must take advantage of it. 

The child has native impulses to independence. It would 
be a mistake to leave the subject of suggestion with the 
implication that the child is completely absorbed in the 
effort to copy or to conform to other people. Strong as this 
impulse is, it is checked up by the opposite impulse which 
at times is still stronger. At the age of about three the child 
passes through a period in which there appears the opposite 
attitude or bias. This period is sometimes called the period 
of negative suggestibility. The child has the impulse con- 
tinually to do the opposite of that which is suggested to him. 
He seems to be controlled by what in common language is 
called a contrary spirit. To one who is not familiar with the 
development of children this trait appears to be an evidence 
of innate depravity, but in reality it is simply the expression 
of the child's disposition to develop his own individuality, 
rather than to conform completely to the influences from 
the outside. 

In the period of later childhood, from about eight to 
twelve, the child sometimes passes through what has some- 
times been called " the young barbarian period." At this 
time he seems to lose a good part of his desire to become a 
conforming member of the society about him, and becomes 
absorbed in working out his own individual desires and pur- 
poses. He is not particularly sensitive to the customs and 
demands of society and finds it irksome to have to do the 
little things which are demanded of him because they are 
the things to do. 

In the period of adolescence the child regains his sensi- 
tiveness to the opinion and attitude of the group, but it is 
the group of his own fellows rather than adult society to 
which he is the most subservient. He is in the period when, 
as a member of the clan or the group, he has a disposition 



IMITATION AND SELF-ASSERTION 87 

to rebel against the traditional restrictions of adult society. 
Here again there appears the impulse to independence, al- 
though in this period it is complicated by the fact of his 
dependence upon those of his own age. 

The current school practice places emphasis on initiative 
and self-reliance. There have been many educators, from 
the time of Rousseau to the present, who have criticized the 
school because it subjects the child too completely to the will 
of his elders. It has been pointed out that the development of 
strong intellectual and moral character depends upon inde- 
pendent effort and discovery. The most prominent modern 
representative of this view is Madame Montessori. In 
expounding her theories of child development, she asserts 
that directions or commands by the teacher should be ex- 
cluded so far as possible, and that the child should be left to 
his own devices to use the apparatus which is presented to 
him without interference from others. It is true that in the 
actual conduct of the Montessori method much restriction 
is placed upon the child. In the first place he is restricted to 
the use of the material which is furnished him, and he can 
only do with this material that which it was intended for. 
In the second place, while direct command is reduced so far 
as possible, the child is influenced very greatly by suggestion. 
This method is therefore not calculated to produce so great 
independence as it pretends to do. 

Independent thought is a prominent element in social life. 
Writers on social psychology have often laid great stress on 
the imitative or suggestive side of social life, so as to make it 
appear that this was the chief consequence of contact of 
people with one another. 1 The action of the mob, in which 
the individual person is almost completely subordinated to 

1 For a very illuminating account of the effect of social contact in 
promoting thought rather than mere suggestion, see E. A. Ross, "The 
Organization of Thought"; in American Journal of Sociology, vol. xxn, 
pp. 300-23. (1910.) 



88 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

the group feeling and action, is presented as a typical case 
of social life. Group action in this case is usually dominated 
or led by some forceful personality, and the independence 
of each individual is smothered by the group. This results 
from a restriction on his movements through being packed 
into the crowd, and from the very intense feeling tone of 
the group which carries each individual off his feet. This 
suppression of the will and independence of the individual 
is the primitive kind of social influence, and it cannot be de- 
nied that it exists as a form of social life. The development 
of civilization, however, has led to the greater and greater 
independence of the individual person in his thought and 
action, and there are other typical social groups which repre- 
sent this higher form of social life. If the mob may be taken 
to represent the more primitive life, the deliberative assem- 
bly may be taken to represent the higher form of social 
group. In such an assembly there are always persons who, 
because of their more vigorous thought, are more influential 
in guiding the deliberations than the others; but there is 
opportunity afforded to each person to contribute his own 
ideas, and the composite result is based on the contribution 
of many individuals, rather than on the dominant leadership 
of a single person. This must be looked upon as the sort of 
interaction between persons which is to be desired, rather 
than the more primitive form which is represented by the mob. 
Educational practice and theory have drawn the contrast 
between obedience and freedom. Obedience has often been 
regarded as the center and essence of moral conduct. We 
are often told that the child's first duty is to learn to obey. 
There is much to support this view. Action is moral only 
when mere impulse and desire for self -gratification are sub- 
jected to law, or to a broader principle of conduct, and to 
the social feeling. A person who acts merely from impulse, 
even though his impulse be good, cannot be thought of as 



IMITATION AND SELF-ASSERTION 89 

acting morally, unless this impulse is the habit which has 
resulted from his previous choice. Unless one subjects his 
personal whims to the recognized principles of right his 
action cannot be said to have moral character. On the other 
hand, it may truly be said that if a person acts simply from 
outward compulsion the action does not represent his own 
personality. He is simply the instrument or the agent of the 
will of some one else, and hence his actions cannot be thought 
of as moral. 

The child's moral nature is the result of growth. The solu- 
tion of this difficulty is to be found in the fact that the 
child, in the beginning, does not possess a full moral char- 
acter, and that the business of education is to lead him 
gradually in the development to full moral stature, and to 
control the formation of his habits through the period when 
he is largely dependent upon others for the guidance of his 
conduct. Conduct does not depend simply on intentions 
for its guidance, but also upon knowledge and experience; 
and the older person, because of his greater experience and 
knowledge, and also because of his self-control which has 
resulted or should have resulted from his greater maturity, 
has a large share of responsibility in the guidance of the 
child's conduct. To shrink from this responsibility on the 
theory that development of character is from within rather 
than from without is to fail to recognize the undeveloped 
nature of the child at the beginning, and the fact that the 
attainment of self-direction is a gradual affair. The child 
must first learn to obey his parents and teachers because 
their knowledge and maturity give them the necessary 
authority over him. As a result of this obedience he will 
develop the disposition to subject himself to principles of 
right conduct, and will be able to guide his own conduct 
when he reaches the stage in which he can himself see what 
is best to do. 



90 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

The exercise of authority, it must be admitted, does not 
always produce this desirable result. Authority frequently 
arouses in the child revolt, instead of producing the virtue 
of self-control and subjection to law. Authority must be 
exercised without thwarting the development of judgment, 
initiative, and self-control. External control must gradu- 
ally merge into self-control. This is to be brought about by 
making a distinction, which the child finally comes to recog- 
nize, between arbitrary commands, expressing merely the 
desires of the older person, and the enforcement of a law 
or principle which the child recognizes as being both over 
himself and the person who gives the command. The adult 
must stand simply as the representative of this law, and 
not as a personal dictator. The child must see that the 
thing commanded is to be done because it is right, and not 
simply because some one wishes him to do it. It may be 
necessary in the preliminary stages to enforce commands 
without giving reasons, because the child is not capable of 
understanding the reasons, and because they will use the 
opportunity simply as a means of evasion. But even after 
he arrives at the age when he can himself recognize some- 
thing of the basis of the requirements which are laid upon 
him, he needs the support of another to back up his own 
resolution. The same principle holds also with adults. The 
only difference is that in their case the support is given by 
public opinion and, if necessary, by law. The older person 
stands toward the child in place of this broader public 
opinion, until the time comes when he is able to recognize it 
and bring himself into conformity to it. 

2. The social 'periods 
Mention has been made in connection with other topics 
of the differences in the child's attitude at different ages. 
The present section will briefly summarize the changes 



IMITATION AND SELF-ASSERTION 91 

which take place in the child's attitude toward the social 
group in general as he develops from the period of infancy 
to maturity. 

Infancy may be called the breaking-in period. The child 
starts life as a complete individualist. He enjoys the pres- 
ence and approval of others, but he recognizes no duties or 
obligations to others, and his own desires and wishes are 
the sole, or at least the chief, impulse in his conduct. " I 
want to " is a sole and complete reason for any action, or 
the possession of any object. Gradually, through reward 
and punishment, and to a less extent through affection, love 
of approbation, and so forth, the child is led to subject him- 
self to the interests and wishes of others. With the exception 
of the period of negative suggestibility, at about three, 
which has already been mentioned, the child enters into 
the period of early childhood so transformed that he seems 
for a time to subject himself almost completely to the social 
will. 

The period of early childhood is the period of docility. 
After the rebel period of negative suggestibility the child 
usually becomes very teachable. It is during this period, 
in the kindergarten and the primary grades, that the child 
is willing and anxious to learn the various social arts which 
are taught in the school. It is not necessary at this time to 
bring to bear upon the child those influences or motives to 
lead him to do his school work which are found to be neces- 
sary in the following period. The child realizes his depend- 
ence, his weakness, and his lack of knowledge, and is anxious 
to make good his deficiency so far as may be. 

The intermediate period — the period of individual inde- 
pendence. The intermediate period of the child's school life 
has long been recognized as presenting particular problems 
of control, and of guidance of the child's interests. It has 
already been pointed out that the child of this period has 



92 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

been characterized as a young barbarian. He does not 
recognize or particularly desire to conform to the customs 
and usages of society. A trivial illustration of this attitude, 
in the case of the boy, is the carelessness which he exhibits 
with reference to such matters of personal appearance as a 
clean face, or brushed hair, or neat clothing. This attitude 
of independence has sometimes been met by the exercise of 
further authority, and by subjecting the child to a greater 
degree of formal drill and memorization, as an answer to 
his revolt against this type of work, which to him has be- 
come less interesting and more or less meaningless. This 
practice rests upon a theory in regard to the nature of the 
child's intellectual development at this period which we 
shall see, in a later chapter, to be ill-founded. While the 
older child is capable of drill, and of enduring rather severe 
work, he is also capable of a greater amount of initiative 
than is the younger child, and his social attitude disposes 
him to greater independence. This is the time, then, when 
he should be put more upon his own resources. The some- 
what excessive attitude of personal independence which he 
exhibits at this time can be left for correction to the social 
instincts which develop in the next period. 

Adolescence, the period of the development of the group 
spirit. The development of a sensitiveness to the group 
attitude, and of a disposition to cooperate, has been com- 
mented on in several connections already. The youth 
awakens from his preoccupation with his own interests and 
desires to a sense of the larger world, and to interests in 
enterprises which can only be worked out by a group of 
persons working together, rather than by an individual 
working alone. He develops a sense of social responsibility, 
which is a different thing from the unquestioning docility 
of the young child. A symptom of this development is his 
growing interest in preparing for and getting a life job. 



IMITATION AND SELF-ASSERTION 93 

Work has been defined as the activity by which one makes 
good in society, and the type of work, at least, in which the 
youth becomes interested is of this sort. The youth now 
becomes keen to find a use in the studies which he takes, 
and he seems for a time to have less disinterested intellectual 
interests than he had in the period which preceded. The 
vocational interests may become strong enough to cause 
the child to desire to leave school, and this must be met by 
showing him that his school work is of use in the preparation 
for his later life, thus leading him to lay a broader founda- 
tion for his future career. Supplementing this interest are, 
of course, the broader human interests as expressed in litera- 
ture and history, the intellectual interest in discovery, or in 
working out scientific principles, and the aesthetic interest 
as manifested in art or literature. But to attempt to 
smother the vocational interest, and to substitute these 
other less intense interests, is to cause the youth to do his 
school work in a listless and half-hearted manner, and to 
transfer his more intense interests to activities outside his 
studies. The attempt to make the work of high school and 
college rest chiefly on motives of self -culture is to substitute 
what is essentially, in the life of the majority of individuals, 
a play attitude, for the serious work attitude which is now 
developing. It is not surprising under these circumstances 
that the student frequently devotes more time to his student 
societies or to athletics than he does to his school or college 
work. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. Compare the position taken in the opening paragraphs with that of 
Dewey in the article referred to below. 

2. Find other illustrations of reflex imitation in animals. 

3. Find examples of dramatic imitation in the child. 

4. Arc different persons alike in suggestibility? Give illustrations. 

5. Give one specific illustration of a case in which suggestion is desirable, 
and one of a situation where it is undesirable. 



94 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

C. Illustrate the value of initiative in life outside the school. 

7. What should you say is the relation of training to initiative? 

8. Discuss the statement: The first and most important virtue in the child 
is obedience. 

9. Show how the vocational interest is social. 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

Baldwin, J. M. Mental Development in the Child and the Race, vol. I. 

(Macmillan, 1895.) 
Dewey, J. "Imitation"; in Cyclopedia of Education. Edited by Paul 

Monroe. (Macmillan, 1911-13.) 
Kirkpatrick, E. A. Fundamentals of Child Study. Chapter on "Imitation." 

(Macmillan, 1903.) 
King, I. Psychology of Child Development, chap. x. (University of Chicago 

Press, 1903.) 
McDougall, W. An Introduction to Social Psychology. (John W. Luce & 

Co., 1909.) 
Montessori, M. The Montessori Method. Translated by Anna E. George. 

(F. A. Stokes Co., 1912.) 



CHAPTER VI 

INSTINCTIVE SOCIAL ATTITUDES, AND TYPES 

1. Instinctive social attitudes 

Among the prominent social attitudes of the child is the 
love of approbation. Sensitiveness to the expression of 
approval or disapproval of other persons appears early in 
the life of the child. This sensitiveness is at first to the more 
outward or more obvious forms of expression. A word of 
anger, or a look of pleasure accompanied by a smile, is re- 
sponded to by the child even in the period of infancy. Some- 
times the child is thrown into a fit of weeping merely by the 
tone of voice in which he is spoken to. The response of the 
child by smiling to the smile of another person may be ob- 
served in the first year. This sensitiveness to the approval 
or disapproval of others is of great influence in governing 
actions of persons of all ages. The adult finds it very diffi- 
cult to do things which are not regarded commonly as the 
thing to do, even although he does not think of any one per- 
son as expressing disapproval. Even in trivial matters, such 
as wearing a hat out of season, this sense of the attitude of 
other persons is very powerful. 

Differences with age. The young child is more sensitive 
to the approbation of older persons than he will be as a 
youth. The youth pays more attention to the attitudes of 
those of his own age and social group. In order to influence 
the youth it is necessary to govern or control the attitude 
of the group as a whole, which constitutes the public opinion 
to which he feels himself subject. It is easier to reach the 
young child by direct individual influence. It may be that 
this is due to his greater feeling of dependence. As the youth 



96 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

outgrows this childish feeling and becomes more independ- 
ent, he chafes at the necessity of governing his actions 
according to the opinions of an older person. 

Children of all ages are particularly susceptible to the 
attitudes of their mates. In spite of this distinction between 
the child and the youth, it is probable that children of all 
ages are more sensitive to the approbation or disapprobation 
of those of the same age than they are to the attitudes of 
adults. An illustration of this may be taken from the life 
of a child five years of age. This boy had not yet had his 
hair cut short, and was perfectly satisfied with the manner 
in which it was cut until some of his playmates called him a 
sissy. He was thereupon very anxious to have his hair cut 
in the same way as the other boys. When asked what a 
sissy was he could not tell, but he knew it was something 
undesirable. If his parents had applied such an epithet to 
him, it would probably have had much less effect. 

The characteristics which inspire the desire for approval. 
There is a difference also in the child's degree of sensitive- 
ness to approval by others according to the individuality of 
the other persons. The approbation of some persons is more 
effective than that of others. One of whom a person is afraid 
will inspire a desire for approval. This, however, is only 
operative when the person who is feared is present, or when 
it is felt that he is capable of doing something that will be 
unpleasant. Severity of manner may be the source of such 
fear as well as punishment. A more wholesome and effective 
source of desire for approval exists when the child recognizes 
that another is sympathetic with his desires and purposes, 
and when he has respect for the person whom he feels to be 
in sympathy with him. The child must feel that a person 
is in some way superior to himself in ability, or in attain- 
ment, or in moral force, if the desire to please that person 
is to be intense. 



INSTINCTIVE SOCIAL ATTITUDES 97 

The child exhibits sympathy. Contrary to the opinion 
which is sometimes expressed, the child is also capable of 
entertaining concern for the welfare, and sympathy for the 
feelings of others. It is sometimes said that the child is 
wholly selfish in his attitude toward his associates; but there 
is very clear evidence that this is not the only attitude of 
which he is capable. In the early years his sympathy is of 
the nature of an instinctive, mechanical response to the 
outward expressions of pain or grief. The sympathy in this 
case seems to be little more than a reflex imitation of the 
expression of the emotions, and the effect which this has in 
producing a similar emotion in the imitator. 

Sympathy develops with the growth of imagination. As 
the child grows older he becomes capable of placing himself 
in imagination in another person's position, and of making 
somewhat the same response which he would make if he 
were in that position. Through the imagination he may 
sympathize with a friend concerning whose misfortune he 
had received word, without witnessing his friend's distress, 
or receiving a direct emotional appeal. The sympathetic 
person's response to the misfortune of another is not iden- 
tical with that which he would make in the same situation. 
For this reason he is able to render service to the person in 
trouble, because he can have a more detached attitude of 
mind toward the difficulty. Because he does not wholly 
adopt the attitude which he would have if he were in the 
same situation, however, does not mean that he has not in 
some degree the same feeling. Sympathy is this tendency 
to put one's self in the place of another or to identify one's 
own interests and welfare in a measure with those of another. 

The young child exhibits rapid alternation in mood. There 
is a marked change in the kinds of sympathy which the 
child can experience at different periods. In his early life 
the child is chiefly responsive to the outward expressions of 



98 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

distress or pleasure, as has already been said. Along with 
this goes the rapid alternation from an attitude of sympathy 
to one of a different or perhaps an opposite sort. The child 
may be angry at a person one moment or be jealous of his 
possession of some coveted thing, and the next moment be 
sympathetic with him. He may even, as a result of anger, 
cause pain to another, and in the next moment be sympa- 
thetic because of the pain he has caused. Thus we may 
observe the very rapid alternation in the child between the 
attitudes of sympathy or of affection and those of jealousy 
or anger. 

Later, permanent attitudes are developed. This illus- 
trates a general characteristic of the child and one which 
perhaps has led to wrong conclusions. His whole social 
attitude is impulsive in its nature instead of consisting of 
permanent sentiments, such as that of hatred. As he grows 
older the child becomes more reflective and self-conscious. 
He is not merely moved by the feeling of the moment, but 
he broods over this feeling, and develops in his mind an 
attitude toward a person which remains even when particu- 
lar occasions for it are not present. This has a very im- 
portant effect upon the moral bearing of the child's social 
responses. 

The child exhibits affection. Somewhat like sympathy, 
but not identical with it, is affection. The child can very 
early respond to expressions of affection, and very early 
he manifests such expressions himself. One of the most 
striking illustrations of the fact that the child appreciates 
such expressions, is the jealousy which he often exhibits 
when they are bestowed on another child. This fact ought 
to be recognized in dealing with the child. We make a mis- 
take when we think that the child is swayed merely by pain 
and pleasure, and when we attempt to deal with him in a 
cold and calculating way. The child has a different attitude 



INSTINCTIVE SOCIAL ATTITUDES 99 

toward persons from that which he has toward inanimate 
objects. He more or less vaguely recognizes that another 
person's reaction toward him is a different matter from the 
effects which are produced by physical objects. The failure 
to recognize this social atmosphere in which the child lives 
is the great defect of Herbert Spencer's doctrine of natu- 
ral punishments, which would make one's responses to the 
child of the same mechanical, unvarying nature as the 
laws of the physical world. 

Sympathy and affection are important means of governing 
the child. These positive feelings with reference to others 
— the feelings which lead the child to appreciate and be 
sensitive to the welfare of other persons — form an impor- 
tant leverage by which his development can be governed. 
The recognition of them is important, since otherwise the 
attempt is made to control the child wholly through fear 
or through his self-interest. If these are the only motives 
which are appealed to, they will, of course, seem to be the 
most prominent in the child; but if the responses of sympa- 
thy and affection are encouraged, they will grow in strength 
and become important elements in the motives which govern 
his actions toward others. 

In jealousy one sets his own interests over against the 
interests of another. Opposed to the feelings of sympathy 
or of affection are those of jealousy and anger and the less 
pronounced attitude of emulation. As in sympathy one's 
own interests are identified with those of others, in jealousy 
a sharp contrast is recognized between one's own good and 
that of somebody else. We may trace this feeling in the life 
of the lower animals. A dog may have no hostility whatever 
toward another until the other is seen in possession of some 
desirable article of food. This immediately arouses, pro- 
vided the animal is hungry, a belligerent attitude. Because 
it recognizes that the possession of the desired thing by 



100 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

another prevents its own possession, anger toward the other 
is aroused. Jealousy may even go so far as to cause things to 
be regarded as valuable because others possess them. This, 
of course, is the attitude which is portrayed in iEsop's 
classic fable of the Dog in the Manger. 

Anger is commonly the response which is made to oppo- 
sition. Anger, while not identical with jealousy, may accom- 
pany it, or it may be aroused in other situations than those 
which awaken the jealous response. It is a more general 
attitude of mind which may not only be adopted toward 
other persons but also toward things. It is aroused most 
readily by some obstruction to the course of one's action or 
the fulfillment of one's purpose, or when one is deprived of 
a coveted possession. The child exhibits the emotion of 
anger very early in his life. For example, if he is led to 
expect that he will be fed when he is hungry, and then is 
disappointed, he exhibits all the outward forms of the 
expression of anger. His anger is easily aroused when the 
freedom of his movements is obstructed, or when he is pre- 
vented from obtaining something which he is attempting 
to get. These continue to be the kinds of situations which 
arouse anger throughout the various stages of life. 

Anger and jealousy are to be supplanted rather than 
directly suppressed through punishment. Anger and jeal- 
ousy are perfectly natural and normal manifestations on the 
part of the child. In fact, there are situations in which the 
adult should also be angry. They should not, therefore, be 
regarded as expressions of depravity, nor should they usu- 
ally be directly punished. The child has the capacities 
which make it possible in any particular case to take one 
attitude or another. His education should consist in leading 
him to take the attitudes which are desirable. If this is done, 
the undesirable attitudes will gradually fall away or develop 
into different forms. We have seen that the child does not 



INSTINCTIVE SOCIAL ATTITUDES 101 

possess merely the capacity for those responses which are 
inimical to others, but that he also has the germs of the 
development of the friendly attitudes. Education does not 
consist, then, in directly suppressing certain kinds of re- 
sponse and creating new forms in their stead, but rather in 
encouraging those desirable forms which already exist, thus 
causing the others to be starved out through being sup- 
planted by the better. 

Anger should not commonly be met with anger. In the 
treatment of anger, if one attempts to suppress it by meet- 
ing it with a display of anger in return, the result is usually 
the aggravation of the original trouble. One of the common 
sources of the attitude of anger is its expression by another 
toward one's self. It is true that if another person exhibits 
anger, the result may, under certain conditions, be fear, or 
amusement, or some other response. In spite of this possi- 
ble variation of response, the expression of anger usually has 
the tendency to reproduce itself in the one toward whom it is 
directed. The older person, then, by exhibiting anger toward 
the child, is merely adding fuel to the fire. While the child's 
attitude may be excused because of his immaturity or lack 
of control, that of the adult cannot be excused on the same 
score. That this mode of treatment is usually not calculated 
to overcome the difficulty is contrary to the opinion ex- 
pressed by some authorities, who hold that a child should 
not be punished in cold blood, but in anger, and that pun- 
ishment given in this spirit will commonly have the most 
wholesome effect upon the child. With this view the writer 
cannot agree, on the basis either of theoretical considera- 
tions or of observation. For the adult to become angry with 
the child is for him to put himself on the same plane of 
instinctive impulse. He is then merely meeting force with 
superior force. He fails to lead the child to see that his anger 
is an unintelligent mode of expression, and to induce him by 



102 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

the calm consideration of other aspects of the case than those 
which aroused his anger to produce in himself contrary 
forms of emotional attitude. 

Other modes of treating anger. There are other ways of 
treating anger which make the child aware that he is exhib- 
iting a type of emotion which does not meet with social 
approval. One may, for example, make the child see that his 
display is ridiculous by friendly bantering, or the like. In 
particular cases to show that one is aggrieved is a more 
effective method to pursue. The mode of treatment depends 
on the child. It may sometimes be necessary to show some 
warmth of indignation which the child may recognize not 
as personal resentment but as disapproval of wrong action. 
In this way the child will come to make distinctions of right 
and wrong between actions which at the start are merely 
instinctive responses. 

With increasing maturity the child gains control over his 
impulses. As has been implied, the older the child grows, 
the more he becomes capable of getting above his instinctive 
reactions and of controlling them by controlling the ideas 
by which they are produced. The child is largely absorbed 
in the feeling or idea of the moment. The means of gaining 
control over the momentary impulse is the ability to bring 
to mind other considerations than those which have pro- 
duced the momentary attitude. As one becomes less impul- 
sive and more reflective, he gains the power of exercising 
over his own responses somewhat the sort of control which 
the older person can exercise over the responses of the child; 
he becomes capable of substituting the response which he 
has come to recognize as more desirable for one which in 
his calmer moments he recognizes as undesirable. 

Anger develops into indignation. What has been said 
should not be taken to mean that the emotion of anger is 
wholly useless or undesirable. W r e recognize this when we 



INSTINCTIVE SOCIAL ATTITUDES 103 

distinguish between anger and indignation. We disapprove 
of anger, first, chiefly because it is impulsive in its nature, 
and is an expression of lack of self-control. We disapprove it 
further when it is based exclusively on a sense of personal 
injury. In anger one does not consider necessarily whether 
the source of his anger is just or unjust, whether it is reason- 
able or unreasonable, or whether there is any legitimate 
cause for being angry. In the case of indignation, whether 
it is directed toward an injury to ourselves or to somebody 
else, we always have in mind the consideration whether the 
action which arouses our indignation involves the violation 
of right or justice. The ability to be indignant, then, means 
that a person is capable of distinguishing between a just 
and an unjust act. The child may be indignant as soon as 
he can recognize justice and injustice. We sometimes make 
the mistake of believing that the development of this re- 
sponse is delayed until a late period of life. The common 
view probably is that indignation does not appear until 
about adolescence, but there are clear evidences of a much 
earlier beginning of the reflective attitude of mind. 

Jealousy develops into emulation. As anger is based 
upon an attitude which goes beyond the simpler instinct to 
the more complex attitude of indignation, so jealousy may 
lead to the less violent and more permanent attitude of 
emulation. While the jealous person does not at the same 
time entertain a benevolent feeling toward the object of his 
jealousy, emulation may exist together with an entirely 
friendly feeling. It is therefore not necessarily an undesir- 
able attitude of mind. When it is directed toward objects 
which are in themselves worth while, it frequently forms a 
useful stimulus to effort. It is very easily misdirected, how- 
ever, as when it causes one to strive for objects which are not 
in themselves worth while. It is also undesirable when, as is 
frequently the case, it leads a person to strive for things 



104 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

which are beyond his capacity, or which do not lie in the 
direction of his abilities. Thus a pupil in school may be led 
to give undue attention to one particular kind of work 
because a prize is offered in that work, whereas he has 
greater capacity in some other direction, and his efforts in 
this other direction would be rewarded by results of greater 
consequence. 

Emulation should not be a substitute for direct interest 
in the activity. It is probably safe to say that when emula- 
tion becomes so intense that it causes one to desire some- 
thing that otherwise would awaken no interest it is out of 
place. It is true that one might argue that we may properly 
through emulation induce the child to learn that which would 
otherwise have no interest for him, but which is essential to 
his education. It is to be said in opposition to this argument, 
however, that things which are learned in this way are less 
thoroughly learned and produce fewer associations in the 
mind than things which are learned for their own sake, and 
that in addition to this the child is forming an undesirable 
habit of mind. It is not likely, moreover, that it is necessary 
to resort wholly or chiefly to emulation to induce the child to 
learn anything which is essential. The child has such intense 
curiosity and takes such great pleasure in successful accom- 
plishment that the possibilities of such motives should be 
exhausted before we assume that the child's interest cannot 
be awakened. 

Emulation, properly safeguarded, naturally supplements 
other motives. Because emulation in excess is harmful it is 
not necessary to go to the other extreme and hold that it 
cannot be used at all. As was said in the chapter on Pla3 r , 
competition is a natural form of activity. We could not 
entirely eliminate it if we would. What we can do is to 
avoid misusing it. One safeguard which has already been 
mentioned is to encourage emulation chiefly between groups 



INSTINCTIVE SOCIAL ATTITUDES 105 

rather than between individuals. Another is to avoid too 
much artificial stimulation. It is a question whether prizes 
do not usually produce such excessive artificial stimulation. 
If a prize is to be offered at all, the best kind is one which 
gives opportunity for further attainment, and not simply 
for enjoyment. 

2. Social types 

There are individual differences in social attitudes. Dur- 
ing the consideration of these forms of social response in the 
child it will doubtless have occurred to the reader that there 
are differences in different children in the comparative 
prominence of the various traits. In some children the atti- 
tude of sympathy will be more prominent while in others 
jealousy will be the dominant attitude. The same distinc- 
tion between types appears in another form of social atti- 
tude which has not been mentioned, — namely, bashfulness 
and sociability. In some persons the instinct of sociability 
is much stronger than that of bashfulness, and they seem to 
have no difficulty from the distressing embarrassment to 
which others are subject. In persons of the latter type, 
bashfulness may be so strong that they are not comfortable 
in the company of any but their intimate friends. We may 
then attempt to distinguish some of the more important 
forms of social types. This distinction does not mean that 
all persons can be classified as belonging to one or the other 
extreme. It means merely that persons may vary in one 
direction or the other, and that extremes are occasionally 
met with. In the practical application of these facts it is 
the extremes which raise the problem. The majority of per- 
sons belong in this, as in other cases of individual differ- 
ence, to the intermediate type. 

Individuals may have positive or negative self-feeling. 
The first distinction on which types may be based is one 



106 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

which is not confined merely to one's social attitude, but it is 
especially prominent in this connection. The distinction on 
which this type rests is between an attitude in which one 
feels self-confident, able to meet the situation which con- 
fronts him, with an accompanying sense of satisfaction or 
pleasure; and the opposite attitude in which one has a sense 
of incapacity, of depression and of inability to meet the 
demands which are made upon him. These two opposing 
attitudes are sometimes called positive and negative self- 
feeling. 

Positive and negative self-feeling do not necessarily go 
with the possession or the failure to possess ability to meet 
the situation. A person with negative self-feeling may be 
capable and efficient, whereas one with positive self -feeling 
may be inefficient. Positive and negative self -feeling each 
finds extreme expression in a particular form of insanity. 
In the one case there is elation, sense of power and of capac- 
ity, and in the other case is melancholy and depression. In 
neither of these cases is there anything in the facts to justify 
the feeling. In the same way in normal mental life there 
may be something of elation or depression which character- 
izes a person's attitude without regard to the causes which 
may exist for the feeling. The cause may be native tem- 
perament or the condition of health and degree of physical 
vigor. 

Both extremes should be discouraged. When a person 
represents either extreme, his attitude furnishes something 
of a problem to those who have in charge his education. 
The person with extreme positive self -feeling is apt to be 
over-confident, to overrate his powers in comparison with 
those of his associates, and to underestimate the difficulties 
which confront him. He is apt to act in a reckless fashion 
without due consideration of the difficulties. The person 
with negative self -feeling, on the other hand, needs to be 



INSTINCTIVE SOCIAL ATTITUDES 107 

encouraged to attack the problems of his life and vocation. 
The difficulties appear to him to be larger than they should, 
and he does not put forth sufficient effort. When properly 
encouraged and stimulated he may be very efficient; but he 
is apt, as is illustrated in the extreme case of the melancholic, 
not to make an attempt because of his fear of failure. 

Some individuals are bom leaders. There is another 
group of persons who possess a capacity for leadership in 
a marked degree. With these is contrasted, not a special 
group who are deficient in this capacity, so much as all the 
rest of the people who do not possess this trait in an espe- 
cially high degree. Studies have been made to determine 
what it is in a person's mental nature which qualifies him 
for leadership, and a number of traits have been found to be 
held in common by such persons. 

The leader is self-confident. One of the traits which 
seems to be most uniformly present among natural leaders 
is that of self-confidence. In order to be a leader a person 
must believe that he is capable of planning and carrying out 
some campaign of action. He must not hesitate too greatly, 
at least in the presence of the group which he wishes to lead. 
The possession of a definite plan of action and confidence 
in its feasibility is more important, apparently, than the 
actual worth of the plan. The followers rely more upon the 
expressed confidence of the leader than upon their own 
recognition of the worth of his proposed course of action. 

The leader plans a course of action for the group. As has 
been said, self-confidence in the leader is accompanied by 
the habit of thinking out a course of action for the future. 
The leader must be prepared with some plan whenever a 
contingency arises. He must therefore be continually schem- 
ing so that he will have a plan to suggest before one is pro- 
posed by another. The more thoroughly a plan is worked 
out in detail, the more effective it will be, although some- 



108 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

times a vague and Indefinite plan is sufficient to bring a 
group of persons into a united course of action. 

Critics are a check on leaders. It has been said that lead- 
ers are marked off as a class from the general group of per- 
sons. There is, however, another class of persons, who, 
although they do not have some of the capacities for leader- 
ship, yet do not have the disposition uncritically to accept 
any plan which may be proposed. They, therefore, are not 
well suited to be either leaders or followers, and are often 
regarded with suspicion and dislike by practical persons 
who have the responsibility for carrying on some plan of cam- 
paign. These persons may merely take a critical attitude 
toward plans, and appear usually in the opposition to popu- 
lar movements. In politics these persons are the independ- 
ents. A larger view of the whole situation than that which is 
possessed by the leaders, who are committed to some plan 
of action, will make it clear that such persons are of great 
value even although they are not themselves capable of 
organizing definite plans of campaign. They serve to pre- 
vent too uncritical following of leaders, merely because they 
have the personal qualities which cause people to follow 
them. 

The aggressive type is contrasted with the meek type. 
Another distinction between social types may be made 
between persons who are aggressive in pushing their own 
interests and working for their own satisfaction, and those 
who have not such a keen sense of their own rights, or dispo- 
sition to demand the satisfaction of their own desires. The 
one type of person may be called the aggressive person and 
the other the meek person. Here again it is important chiefly 
to watch for and give the proper treatment to those who 
represent the extremes. The extremely aggressive child 
needs to be checked and to be led to the development of a 
recognition for the rights of others and of habits of thinking 



INSTINCTIVE SOCIAL ATTITUDES 109 

for and providing for others' welfare. The meek child needs 
to have the habits of self-assertion developed, and needs to 
be led to recognize that his usefulness will depend in large 
measure upon the degree to which his own individuality is 
developed. 

The cooperative type. There is another distinction which 
resembles somewhat the distinction between sociable and 
bashful types and yet is somewhat different. This is the dis- 
tinction between those who seem naturally fitted for coop- 
eration with others, and those who find it difficult to carry 
on cooperative endeavors. The cooperative persons may not 
always be particularly sociable in disposition and the more 
individual type of person may not be especially bashful. 
The cooperative person seems rather to possess more of the 
traits of tactfulness, of the disposition, in following out his 
own purposes, to consider the ideas and opinions of others, 
and to modify his purposes in their execution so that they 
may be in harmony with those of others. Such a person is 
willing to compromise when compromise seems to be essen- 
tial to united action. 

The uncooperative type. The opposite type of person 
finds it very difficult to modify his plans at all in order to 
adjust them to the opinions of his associates. His plan must 
be carried out in whole or not at all. He is willing to see the 
whole purpose wrecked rather than to have it modified in 
any particular. Such a person is usually more earnest and 
enthusiastic in his advocacy of measures than is the more 
practical person, who is willing to compromise something 
in the means if the general end is accomplished. The one 
type of person is represented by the politician, who is able 
to bring things to pass; while the other is represented by the 
agitator who, while he himself does not accomplish definite 
results, may so arouse public opinion as to lead to progress 
in the direction of his ideas. These types may undoubtedly 



110 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

be found among children, and something may be done to 
soften the more extreme contrasts. In each case a person 
who represents either extreme would be usually more effi- 
cient if he possessed something of the traits of the opposite. 
There is probably no anti-social type among normal chil- 
dren. It will be recognized that, although there are differ- 
ences corresponding to the various types of persons which 
have been described, and although extremes in general are 
not advantageous, yet none of the types which have been 
mentioned represent the disposition actively to do injury to 
other persons, or to break down or destroy the relations 
between people. That is, there has not been included what 
might be called an anti-social type of person. It is a ques- 
tion whether, among normal children at least, there are 
any who are entirely anti-social. What we very often regard 
as an expression of this type of mind is only so regarded 
because of our blindness to the child's real motives. We 
may make the child anti-social, perhaps, by our stupid treat- 
ment of him, and by our misunderstanding of his real feel- 
ings or attitudes. We may even so far mistake the child's 
motive that when he is doing something intended to benefit 
another, we blame and censure him because the results are 
not what the other person desires. We may thus sometimes 
cause him to adopt for himself an anti-social motive because 
it is ascribed to him and because he recognizes the injustice 
of the judgment. Those acts which are more commonly 
interpreted as anti-social — the " selfish," and even the 
" mean " acts — are often to be interpreted as due to the 
weakness of motives which should prevent them, rather 
than to any positive desire to harm or injure others. The 
chief problem before the teacher in such cases is to develop 
in the child in their due proportion such attitudes of mind 
as sympathy and a sense of justice, which will lead to the 
less selfish sorts of action. 



INSTINCTIVE SOCIAL ATTITUDES 111 



QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. Is love of approbation as good a motive as interest in the work of the 
school? Are the two motives opposed to each other? Are a person's 
motives usually single or mixed? These questions are intended to sug- 
gest a discussion of the whole question. 

2. Should the attempt be made to suppress all fighting among boys? 
Why? 

3. Discuss the effect and value of prizes. 

4. Describe persons of your acquaintance who exhibit positive and nega- 
tive self-feeling. 

5. Do extremely meek children have much influence among their com- 
rades? 

6. Give illustrations of anti-social actions. If anti-social actions exist, is 
there any justification for maintaining that there is not an anti-social 
type among normal children? Discuss. 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

Dewey, J. "Imitation"; in Cyclopedia of Education, vol. in. Edited by 

Paul Monroe. (Macmillan, 1911-13.) 
King, I. Psychology of Child Development, chap. x. (University of Chicago 

Press, 1903.) 
Kirkpatrick, E. A. Fundamentals of Child Study, chaps, vn and vni. (Mac- 
millan, 1903.) 
Mark, Thistleton. The Unfolding of Personality, chap. v. (University of 

Chicago Press.) 
O'Shea, M. V. Social Development and Education. (Houghton Mifflin Co., 

1909.) 
Spencer, H. Education, chap. rv. (D. Appleton & Co., 1861.) 
Tarde, G. Imitation. Translated by E. H. Parsons. (New York, 1903.) 
Thorndike, E. L. Educational Psychology, chap, vin on "Imitation" and 

on other forms of response. (Teachers College, Columbia University, 

1914.) 



CHAPTER VII 

SPEECH 

Large importance of speech. Speech has long been re- 
garded as the most characteristic human activity and the 
one which separates man most clearly from the animals. 
While this is true in a general way, and the researches into 
the supposed language of the higher animals have not dis- 
covered anything which corresponds to the highly developed 
human language, yet we shall find here, as in the other forms 
of mental development, that there are similarities between 
the child in the early stages of his development and the 
animal. Those elements of speech which are instinctive, 
and which serve to communicate feeling, are largely the 
same in animals and in human beings. But those elements 
of human speech by which ideas can be expressed are dis- 
tinctly different from anything to be found in animal lan- 
guage. It is words, which serve to convey or express ideas, 
that make human speech the foundation for progress in all 
arts, sciences, and civilization. Before the development of 
writing, oral tradition made it possible to hand down from 
one generation to another the beliefs and the philosophy of 
human kind. The development of language has made pos- 
sible the institution of laws, and the regulations for conduct 
which go beyond the mere instinctive reaction of one human 
being upon another. The handing down of literature and 
laws of a preceding generation has made it possible for the 
next one to stand upon the shoulders of its predecessor and 
progress beyond it. The human institutions of the state, 
the school, and the church have been made possible by this 
means of communication. The development of barter, com- 



SPEECH 113 

merce, industry, and science all owe a large part of their 
existence to this human instrument, which enables persons 
to convey in a definite way their ideas from one to another. 
Training in the understanding and use of language is an 
important part of the child's education. If speech is so 
important for mental development as has been indicated in 
the previous paragraph, it is not surprising that it has long 
been regarded as the most important if not the sole subject 
of instruction in the school. Recent writers on education 
have argued that the emphasis on speech has gone to an 
extreme, and that the other elements of the child's experi- 
ence — those which he gets through direct contact with the 
world about him — have been neglected. The error which the 
school has sometimes fallen into has been to train the child 
in the use of words without giving him that experience 
which makes words understandable to him. The mistake is 
not in giving language training, but in not supplying also 
the other forms of training which should go with it. The 
danger in language training is that the teaching should fall 
into the error of verbalism. In verbalism words are used as 
the substitutes for ideas, rather than the expression of ideas. 
When a child uses a word in a sentence without knowing 
what that word means he is falling into the error of verbal- 
ism. This does not mean that language can be dispensed 
with. The child cannot either learn to express his ideas, or 
to formulate them in his own thinking, without the use of 
words. The use of names stimulates the child to distinguish 
and to give attention to the objects in the physical world. 
Still more are they the stimulus to the formation of more 
abstract ideas. A well-coined phrase may be the crystalliz- 
ing point for a political party. The beginnings of speech 
lie in the home, but its development and perfection to serve 
as a more delicate instrument of thought is the duty of the 
school. 



114 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

The general impulse to speak is instinctive. So far as 
concerns the general impulse to expression, and the general 
mode of expression, speech may be called instinctive. The 
child does not learn to speak because he recognizes that it is 
of value to him in a practical way to communicate with 
others. He has a native impulse to communicate which is 
exhibited very early in his life. Furthermore, the method 
which he adopts, even apart from any impulse to imitate 
others or to be instructed by them, is expression through 
the use of his voice. 

The expression of feeling through the tone of the voice is 
instinctive. The child, in common with certain of the ani- 
mals, uses instinctively certain kinds of vocal expression. 
These are chiefly the expression of the emotions. For ex- 
ample, fear is universally expressed by a cry or a shriek, 
which is the same among all mankind, and which we recog- 
nize without having been taught its significance. In the 
same way anger, or affection, or the finer shades of feeling, 
may be expressed or recognized. These forms of tone qual- 
ity or of inflection, by which the emotions are conveyed to 
others, do not merely exist as separate forms of expression, 
but they persist as a means of giving additional significance 
to the words by which we learn to express our ideas. Speech, 
then, is both the expression of ideas by the articulation of 
particular words, and the accompaniment of certain tones, 
inflections, and even gestures, by means of which the feeling 
attitudes which accompany the ideas are conveyed. 

Words are got through imitation. The special form of 
articulation which is used in the words of one's native tongue 
is got through imitation. The child does not have an in- 
stinctive predisposition to one language rather than another. 
The grammatical structure of the sentence also, and the 
broader forms of usage of the language, the child gets 
through hearing and imitating others. The models which 



( ■ 



SPEECH 115 



are set before the child, therefore, are extremely important 
as governing the correctness or the appropriateness of the 
usage which he learns to adopt. 

The first words are learned through double imitation. In 
acquiring the ability to pronounce the words of his native 
language, the child profits by a sort of double imitation. 
This is illustrated in the explanation of the universality of 
the words mamma and papa. The child, through his own 
spontaneous babbling, gains control over the production 
of a few simple syllables. The adult listens to the child's 
vocal play, and, catching certain sounds, repeats them and 
applies them to some object. The first words which are 
thus taken and applied are naturally referred by the parents 
to themselves. The child then merely repeats expressions 
which he has himself already used, giving them a meaning 
which has been associated with them by the adult. As he 
gains wider and wider control over the production of differ- 
ent sounds, he comes finally to be able to pronounce new 
words through hearing them. Thus double imitation gives 
him the starting point for the acquirement of words. 

The language which the child learns is conventional. We 
may examine in further detail the stages through which the 
child passes in the imitative learning of his mother tongue. 
We have found that he possesses some forms of expression 
which are instinctive, and which therefore do not have to be 
learned. He can convey his feeling to others by the tone of 
his voice, or by the expression of his face, or the gestures of 
his body. He early learns to supplement these by pointing 
to objects to which his attention is attracted, and to which 
he wishes to attract the attention of others. These may be 
called natural forms of language. Words, on the contrary, 
are conventional, which means that we do not understand 
their meaning instinctively, but have to learn it by experi- 
ence. This conventional language is made up of articulated 



116 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

words, and articulated words are composed of definite com- 
binations of vowel and consonant sounds. 

Learning to talk consists in substituting conventional 
words for the more primitive, instinctive forms of expression. 
The word is at first little more than a means of designating 
that about which the child wishes to express his thought. It 
is of the same nature as pointing. The idea or feeling which 
the child wishes to express concerning an object is given 
through gesture or through intonation or facial expression, 
or a combination of these various means. For example, the 
child will say hat, at the same time pointing to the hat and 
indicating by his intonation that he wishes it. Again, the 
child learns to express his desire for something by means of 
the verb want, whereas previously it was expressed merely 
by the intonation of the voice. While in the earlier speech 
the subject is usually understood and the object is expressed, 
the child later finds a word to express also the subject of a 
sentence. The finer shades of thought expressed by adjec- 
tives, adverbs, prepositions, etc., come still later. 

Meaning is expressed also through sentence structure. 
Another means by which the child learns to express defi- 
nitely that which formerly was expressed through facial 
expression, gestures, or intonation, is sentence structure 
and sentence order. In the beginning the difference be- 
tween the question and the declaration is expressed merely 
by the intonation, but as the child gains more mastery over 
the language he gives a different order to the words in the 
sentence in which he asks a question, from that in which he 
makes a declaration. The development of compound and 
complex sentences indicates a further progress in ability in 
expression. At the first use of sentences the child merely 
asks questions or makes declarations, and strings one clause 
after another by the use of the connective and. When he 
begins to use various relative particles such as when, 






SPEECH 117 



expressing time, or if, expressing condition, he is making 
explicit a form of thought which previously had been 
expressed merely through the context in which the clauses 
occur. The progress in mental development in the child 
may be traced through the kinds of clauses which he intro- 
duces into a sentence, and the words by which they are 
introduced. He expresses a cause and effect relation by the 
word since; and an alternative by the words either — or. 
Such words as nevertheless and accordingly are not found in 
the vocabulary of the very young child. 

Learning to pronounce presents difficulties. Besides gain- 
ing an understanding of more and more complex words and 
the ability to use them, the child must also overcome diffi- 
culties in learning to pronounce the words. This ability in 
pronunciation is one which is founded in the first instance 
upon the vocal play of the child. By this means he gains 
control over the production of the various sounds which are 
used in the language. It is a still more complex and difficult 
performance, however, when he not merely pronounces the 
different sounds spontaneously, but learns to articulate 
them voluntarily in copying a sound which he hears, and to 
combine them with other sounds in the syllables of a word. 
The acquirement of skill in pronunciation is one which comes 
gradually and is in process of development through a con- 
siderable period of childhood. 

Pronunciation depends on hearing. The development of 
skill in this pronunciation depends on the accuracy with 
which the child hears the sound, or discriminates among the 
various sounds, on the one hand, and upon the control of the 
various elements of the movement by which the sound is 
produced on the other. Development in pronunciation, 
therefore, may be hastened by calling the child's attention 
more minutely to the sound of a word, and this may be 
done by pronouncing it slowly so that the sounds are made 



118 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

distinctly. The ability which the child displays in distin- 
guishing the various sounds of a language is remarkable, 
considering the imperfect way in which they are pronounced 
by adults. In order to hasten the process, those who asso- 
ciate with children should be careful to speak slowly and 
distinctly. 

There is additional difficulty in pronunciation itself. The 
development of control of the breathing apparatus, the vocal 
cords, tongue, lips, etc., which are involved in speaking, 
should be gained by practice in the production of sounds 
with the attention on the sound itself, and not upon the 
movement with which it is produced. With the child, it is 
usually a mistake to call his attention to the details of the 
movements by which he is attempting to perform an act. 
The more natural method of learning, as we shall see in a 
later chapter, is to keep the attention fixed upon the results, 
while the movement is varied until the desired result is 
obtained. It is a well-known fact that when one attempts 
to think of the means by which the habits that are becoming 
or have become automatic are carried on, one becomes con- 
fused. This is particularly true of children. The exception 
to this rule occurs when the position or movement of the 
lips, tongue, and teeth is easily seen and may be copied 
by the child in getting the beginning of control over a new 
sound. 

Speech may be retarded by physical defects or by pro- 
longed baby talk. When the child does not make ordinary 
progress in learning to talk, as for example when he lisps 
beyond the usual period, the difficulty may be due to sev- 
eral causes. There is a possibility that it is due to a mental 
defect, or a physical impediment, such as tongue-tie or a 
cleft palate. These causes are infrequent, however, in com- 
parison with the whole number of cases; and the difficulty 
is usually the result of the lack of proper training. When 



SPEECH 119 

this is the case the precautions which were mentioned 
above — the use of distinct and pure speech in talking to 
the child, and practice by the child in correct speaking — 
should be insisted upon. The child is often retarded in his 
speech development by the persistence of baby-talk which 
is unwisely encouraged by his nurse or parents. 

Stammering is a higher degree of the same defect. When 
the persistence of the infantile characteristics of speech 
becomes unduly prolonged and is continued into the later 
childhood, the difficulty is called stammering. In this case 
it is somewhat more serious since the bad habits have been 
longer in formation and have become more firmly fixed. 
They are, however, of the same general character as those 
which have been mentioned above, and must be treated in 
the same manner. The difference is that the treatment must 
be more systematically carried out, and with more persist- 
ence. 

Stuttering is not so much imperfect speech as partial 
inability to speak. The interruption of speech in stuttering 
results from the inability to combine the various movements 
which make up speech as they should be combined. For 
example, the child does not properly coordinate the breath- 
ing and the production of sound. The breath should of 
course always be expired or driven out during the speaking 
of a word or a sentence. In the case of the stutterer the 
attempt is very often made to speak while the breath is 
being inspired or drawn in. The lack of proper coordination 
between the various elements of speech sometimes results 
in the entire inability to speak. Sometimes the effort to 
speak results in saying over and over again the same sylla- 
ble without being able to progress to the next one. This is 
to be regarded not as the imperfect development of the 
habit, so much as the breaking down of the habit. 

The origin of many of the cases of stuttering is instructive 



120 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

as to its cause and as to its means of treatment. It is fre- 
quently found that a person begins to stutter at some 
definite time, or as the result of some definite experience. 
Sometimes it is due to the imitation of another stutterer. 
Another peculiarity about his defect is that it is not at all 
times present or equally troublesome. The stutterer can 
very often speak with perfect freedom under certain circum- 
stances. Some stutterers, for example, can speak in public. 
Most stutterers can sing without difficulty, and can speak 
when they are alone. The difficulty is often aggravated 
when in the presence of certain persons, and particularly 
in the presence of strangers. These characteristics of the 
malady indicate that it is chiefly of a mental nature rather 
than of a physical, and that it should be treated by psycho- 
logical means. 

Treatment should overcome the stutterer's anxiety. The 
most characteristic symptom of stutterers is an anxiety that 
they will not speak correctly. This anxiety may be con- 
nected particularly with certain words. In such cases the 
person will be able to speak freely except when trying to 
pronounce these particular words. The object of the treat- 
ment, therefore, is to enable the stutterer to regain his con- 
fidence in his ability to speak. Every situation which causes 
him anxiety should be avoided. It may be desirable for a 
time not to require a stutterer to recite in class. Some assist- 
ance is gained by slow, deliberate speaking. A stutterer 
may use various devices, such as whistling or speaking 
rhythmically. While these may assist him, yet the main 
point is the acquirement of mental control by which he 
may overcome his anxiety. 

Correct habits of speech are not the same as knowledge 
of grammar. While the child acquires his native language 
largely through imitation, the school has commonly supple- 
mented this method by instruction in the rules and princi- 



SPEECH 121 

pies which govern the usage of the language. The study of 
these rules and principles is called grammar. The knowledge 
of the grammatical rule is not the same as the habit of speak- 
ing so as to conform to the rule. For example, it is not the 
same thing to know the principle that the verb and its sub- 
ject should agree in number, and to construct one's sen- 
tences so that the subject and verb shall agree. To take 
another illustration, a person may have learned through 
imitation to say " he seen " instead of "he saw," but may 
persist in the wrong usage even after he has learned to recite 
the fact that the past tense of see is saw and not seen. On 
the other hand, a child may have learned the correct usage 
through imitation whereas he has never heard of the princi- 
ple. See in this connection Hoyt's investigation referred to 
at the end of the chapter. 

A study of grammatical principles is of value in using the 
native language. Such facts as these have led many to con- 
clude that the knowledge of grammar is useless and that 
the time spent on its study is wasted. It is thought that a 
person will use a language more naturally, correctly, and 
fluently if he learns it merely by getting his ear and voice 
accustomed to correct speech, than by analyzing and learn- 
ing general rules. There are certain points, however, where 
such habits, formed merely through practice, break down. 
In the first place, the habits based on imitation cover only 
the individual cases which have been learned. If a new case 
comes up the person who has learned solely by this method 
is at a loss. A knowledge of the grammatical principle will 
in such a case often enable one to know what construction 
to use. The principle is general, while the habit, in the 
main, covers only special cases. Not only is this true in 
new cases, but it is also true that a knowledge of the general 
principle helps one out in cases in which a doubt arises as to 
what construction to use, even if the habit has been previ- 



122 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

ously formed. Take the common error of the pronoun illus- 
trated in the sentence, " The teacher called on Jane and I." 
The knowledge that I becomes vie when it is the object of 
a verb or preposition makes clear what form should be used. 
If the habit fails, one may have recourse to a rule governing 
the case. Finally, the study of a rule or principle is helpful 
in those cases in which one has formed the wrong habit in 
the first place and needs to break it. 

The grammar which has been commonly taught has been 
too elaborate. While it is probably of advantage to familiar- 
ize the child with the chief facts regarding the grammatical 
structure of his native language, and to cause him to learn 
the simpler rules, the grammar taught in the school has usu- 
ally gone into much greater detail than can be justified by 
its application to the needs of speech or writing. The minute 
and formal classification, inflection, and parsing of words, 
and the detailed analysis of the sentence and definition of 
its component parts, have probably been carried much 
farther than is worth while. A beginning in the discovery of 
the kinds of grammatical facts that are profitable to teach has 
been made in Charters's study of the errors found in the 
speech of the school-children in Kansas City. The mistakes 
which the child is likely to make should be anticipated by 
the development of the contrary habit of correct speech, 
and probably by learning the rule or principle which covers 
the case. This will necessitate a familiarity with a few dis- 
tinctions and grammatical terms. But, if the author may 
cite his own experience in evidence, the larger share of the 
formal grammar which has commonly been taught in the 
school has no discoverable relation to the development of 
habits of either oral or written expression. 

A knowledge of grammatical principles helps in the study 
of a foreign language. The reasons which were given in the 
preceding paragraph for the study of grammar apply to all 



SPEECH 123 

children. There are additional reasons which apply to those 
who study a foreign language. The moment a person begins 
to use a foreign language he comes in contact with forms 
which differ from those to which he has been accustomed. 
The sentence order may differ widely, as in German or in 
Latin; nouns and adjectives may be more highly inflected 
so as to express various relations by the form of the word 
itself rather than by the use of prepositions; distinctions in 
gender may be made more freely, and so on. In the case of 
all such differences, the student will appreciate more clearly 
the usage of his own and of the foreign language if he makes 
some study of the structure of his own tongue either before 
or during the study of the foreign tongue, and compares the 
two, than if he merely learns them both " by ear." 

Grammatical study should be deferred. The view that a 
study of grammar is helpful to one who studies a foreign 
language may seem contrary to the fact that young children 
learn foreign languages easily in the same way that they learn 
their native tongue. There would be a contradiction unless 
it were made clear that grammatical study should not come 
until the child is fairly well along in the formation of his 
language habits. As was indicated in the reasons which were 
given for the study of grammar, this study is not the chief 
basis for the formation of language habits, nor can it be a 
substitute for these habits. Its function is rather to supple- 
ment these habits by making the reasons for the usages 
clear to the child. Hence this study does not come properly 
until the later years of the elementary school. 

Oral expression is fundamental. Expression through oral 
speech is so important for the child's ability in any form 
of expression, and for his ability in thinking, that its right 
development deserves especial attention. The child gains a 
control over oral expression long before he has command of 
written expression. He therefore is capable of sustained and 



124 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

fairly complex expression of thought in speech, long before 
he can express his thoughts with any fluency or ease through 
writing. It is a matter of common observation that the child 
in the earlier grades finds it very difficult to compose his 
thoughts in writing. The writing process itself is so difficult 
that it distracts his mind from the thought which he is 
trying to develop. Speaking also encourages a fullness, a 
fluency, and a connectedness of expression which is apt to 
be absent from written expression. The child should there- 
fore have ample experience with the easier type of expres- 
sion, in order that he may be able to develop the ability to 
express his thought in language by the use of the easier 
medium. 

Writing requires special training. Though written expres- 
sion is secondary to oral expression, it, itself, requires spe- 
cial training. It is incorrect to assume that because the 
child has learned to express his ideas in speech, he can 
express them easily in writing. The changed conditions 
modify the problem, so that the skill gained in the one form 
of expression does not entirely meet the demands of the 
other. In writing it is necessary to express one's thought 
more clearly and explicitly than in speech. Inflection, 
gesture, and facial expression may, as in the case of the 
young child, make the meaning of one's words clear when 
he is speaking, whereas it would be ambiguous in writing. 
When one uses written expression, therefore, it is necessary 
to pay particular attention to the choice of words, to the 
sentence structure, and to the order of words in the sen- 
tence, by which the meaning may be most clearly conveyed. 
Hence written expression is of value in addition to oral 
expression in that it gives system and definiteness of 
thought. Imperfections and inaccuracies which would pass 
unnoticed in oral expression become evident as soon as they 
are put in writing. The fact that what is written is presented 



SPEECH 125 

to the eye simultaneously also encourages logical arrange- 
ment and coherence of thought. 

The acquirement of a vocabulary depends on a wide 
experience with words. The importance of the ability to 
choose words which best express one's meaning, and the 
means by which one may learn to use the most appropriate 
words deserve comment. Studies of the understanding 
that children have of the words which they have met in 
their reading, but which are not in their common every-day 
vocabulary, indicate that their grasp of the meaning of such 
words is very imperfect. Many children's ideas of such 
words as monk or armor are very grotesque, and depend 
often upon the resemblance of the sound of the word to 
some word with which they are familiar, or upon some such 
superficial analogy. It is not sufficient, in order to give a 
child an adequate grasp of the meaning of a word, that he 
should read its formal definition in the dictionary. What 
he needs is wide experience with the word, through hearing 
it used or reading it in a large variety of connections. If the 
word is the name of a concrete object, he must have come in 
direct contact with the object, so that he can recall this 
experience when the word is used, or at least he must have 
had the best possible substitute for such experience through 
pictures or descriptions. To understand words other than 
those of a concrete nature the child must have met them 
often in conversation or reading. Those children have the 
best grasp of words who have the widest experience with 
them, through hearing them used in the home, and through 
wide reading. In order to give children in the school the 
same grasp of word meanings similar experience must be 
furnished them. 



126 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 



QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. Give illustrations of instinctive vocal expression in animals. 

2. How may ideas be communicated otherwise than by words? 

3. What are the advantages of words for the communication of ideas? 

4. What is verbalism in teaching and how is it to be avoided? 

5. Give illustrations of two common errors in speech and of the gram- 
matical principles or rules which they violate. 

6. Illustrate the variation of meaning or emphasis which is produced by a 
change of the order of words in the sentence. 

7. Show in more detail than is given in this chapter why it is difficult for 
the child to distinguish clearly the speech he hears. 

8. Give an illustration from your own observation, if you can, of the fact 
that the knowledge of a rule of grammar does not guarantee against its 
violation. 

9. Illustrate and describe a formal definition of a word. In what way does 
such a definition contribute to our understanding of the word? 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

Charters, W. W., and Miller, Edith. A Course of Study in Grammar, etc. 

(University of Missouri, Educational Bulletin, no. 9.) 
Fletcher, J. M. "An Experimental Study of Stuttering"; in American 

Journal of Psychology, vol. xxv, pp. 201-55. (1914.) 
Hoyt, F. S. "The Place of Grammar in the Elementary Curriculum"; in 

Teachers College Record, November, 1906. 
Judd, C. H. Introduction to Psychology, chap. x. (Chas. Scribner's Sons, 

1909.) 
Kirkpatrick, E. A. Fundamentals of Child Study, chap. xm. (Macmillan, 

1903.) 



CHAPTER VIII 

ACQUIRING SKILL 

The child is born with the ability to make a very small 
number of movements, besides those of the internal organs. 
He is not able to walk, or talk, or use his hands in handling 
objects, or to direct his eyes toward an object, or to focus 
them upon an object. Some of the movements which later 
develop are largely instinctive in their nature, such, for 
instance, as walking. Others the child has to learn largely 
by experience and practice. An illustration of this type of 
learning is handling objects, and later the more delicate 
types of manipulation involved in using tools or writing. 
The child is born with the ability to perform fewer move- 
ments than are the higher animals, but with the capacity 
to develop a larger number, and greater delicacy of move- 
ment than any of the animals. This capacity for develop- 
ment is partly due to the possession of a better adapted 
organ of movement, the hand, and partly to a more deli- 
cately organized nervous system, and a higher intelligence, 
by which he is able to direct his movements toward the 
results which he wishes to produce. 

Skill is acquired through the formation of connections 
between sensory stimuli and motor responses. The acquire- 
ment of skill may be described in more exact terms as 
sensori-motor learning. We may take any form of skill we 
please, and it can readily be shown that in each case the 
movements are guided by the recognition of outward stim- 
uli, or at least by the sensations which outward stimuli pro- 
duce. Even such an act as walking, which is in the. main 
instinctive, must be carried on through a delicate and con- 



128 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

tinuous adaptation to sensations. The disease of locomotor 
ataxia, or tabes dorsalis, illustrates the necessity of sensa- 
tions as guides to movement. In this disease the patient 
loses the sensitivity to touch in the soles of the feet, and to 
movement in the muscles, joints, and tendons in the legs. 
As a consequence, the patient becomes unable to walk if he 
is also deprived of the guiding sensations of the eyes; and in 
the advanced stages even vision is incapable of serving as a 
substitute for the other sensations. Sensations are necessary 
in the development of skill, just as they are in the proper 
control of movements after they have been learned. In 
learning to write the child is concerned not merely with 
movements, but with the adjustment of movements to the 
form of the letter which he apprehends through visual 
perception. 

1. The classes of sensori-motor learning 
In the first class, the task is to connect movements already 
under control with perceptual elements. We may take as an 
illustration of this type of learning the maze experiment. 
This is illustrated in the labyrinths which are sometimes 
found in amusement gardens. These labyrinths consist of a 
series of paths on the way from the entrance to the exit, 
arranged in such a way that many of them lead into blind 
alleys. The task is to learn to turn in the right direction at 
each turning-point, so as to pass through the maze by the 
shortest route, and without having to retrace any steps. 
Animals, such as the white rat, and human beings are on 
much the same level in learning the maze. It may be seen 
on a moment's reflection that the chief requirement in this 
form of learning is to make the proper association between 
the situation at each point in the maze where there is a 
choice of paths, and the movement of turning in the right 
direction. A second form of learning in which the same 



ACQUIRING SKILL 129 

general character is found is that of sorting cards, or of dis- 
tributing letters or cards alphabetically. Here the require- 
ment is that one should connect the sight of the initial letter 
of the name on the object which is to be distributed with the 
movement of putting the object in its appropriate, pigeon- 
hole. It is a matter of connecting a movement over which 
the learner already has control with an object or aspect of 
the situation, which is fairly easily distinguished from the 
surrounding objects. Running an automobile is a third 
illustration of the same type of sensori-motor association. 
The movements of turning the steering-wheel or of pulling 
the brake-lever or of pressing the foot-levers are not in 
themselves difficult or new, but the ready association of 
these movements with the aspect of the situation which 
demands starting the machine, or stopping it, or turning 
to the one side or the other must be learned. 

The second class demands the organization of new move- 
ments in response to their stimuli. The simplest case of the 
second class of learning, which illustrates fully only one 
phase of it, is found in an experiment by Bair on learning 
to move the ears. This movement is one which is commonly 
made when one smiles broadly or raises the eye-brows 
strongly, and the muscles and nerve connections which are 
necessary to make the movement are present to start with. 
The chief process which is involved in learning to make this 
movement voluntarily is its isolation from the movements 
with which it was originally associated. This has to be done 
by associating this particular movement with some percep- 
tion, either the sight of the movement as one looks in a 
mirror, or the effect which is produced when a system of 
levers is attached to the ear, — as was done in this experi- 
ment. Other examples of this class of learning are more 
complex, such as handwriting, handling tools, performing 
gymnastic feats or playing games of skill. In these types of 



130 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

learning, of which handwriting may be taken as an illus- 
tration, it is necessary not only to select the individual 
movements from the groups with which they were previ- 
ously associated, but also to associate the individual move- 
ments into combinations which did not exist before. In 
handwriting, for instance, the action of the four fingers, 
which is similar in the primitive act of grasping, must be 
differentiated. The first and second fingers must be used in 
grasping the pen and the third and fourth in supporting the 
hand. The first and second fingers in grasping the pen must 
also be associated with the thumb, and these adjustments 
of the fingers must be associated with certain movements 
of the arm either in moving along the line or, in the extreme 
arm movement, in forming the letters themselves. The 
other examples of this class which have been mentioned — 
such activities as skating, bicycle riding, and in learning to 
pronounce new words, or words in a new language — are all 
illustrations of this process of breaking up the movements 
which have previously been associated together, and asso- 
ciating them into new patterns. 

This type of learning begins with diffusion and involves 
inhibition. Whenever one attempts to develop a radically 
new movement, he makes at the outset a large number of 
excess movements. The bicycle rider exerts altogether too 
much force in gripping the handle bars and there is a general 
tenseness of the whole body. The same diffusion of impulse 
is shown in the contortion of face, and the twisting of the 
body and the feet, in a child who is learning to write. There 
is what may be called an overproduction of movement 
through the scattering of the nervous impulse to other 
muscles than those which are appropriate to the task. This 
is due to the fact that the correct associations have not been 
formed, and it is a necessary condition in order that new 
paths of connection may be made. The selection of move- 



ACQUIRING SKILL 131 

ments from this diffused number of movements has as its 
other side the inhibition of the useless movements. One 
may look upon the process either as the selection of the suc- 
cessful movements, or the elimination of the others. From 
the practical point of view the selection of movements is to 
be regarded as the primary process, and inhibition simply 
as the result of the process of selection. In particular, we 
can select the correct movement more readily by fixing our 
attention on the result which we wish to produce, or in a 
few cases upon the movement itself, rather than upon the 
movement which we do not wish to make. There are some 
exceptions to this rule, but in the main it holds good. 

The elementary movements in a coordination have to be 
properly combined with reference to both time and force. 
Such a combination of movements, which is built up through 
the selection of certain elements of previous movements, and 
their organization into new groups, is called coordination. 
The coordination may be faulty through the failure of the 
movements to follow one another in the proper time, or to 
have the proper strength in comparison to each other. In 
all feats of skill the correct timing of the successive move- 
ments is a very important element. This is clearly seen in 
the gymnastic feat which is called the " kip." In this act 
one suspends himself by his hands to a horizontal bar and 
swings backward and forward until the body has acquired a 
rapid motion, and then, when the forward extreme of the 
swing is reached, raises the toes to the bar and by a sharp up- 
ward and outward kick raises the body so that the bar crosses 
it at the extremities of the arms. The crucial requirement of 
this feat is that the kick be made at the proper time. If this 
is done the body is raised with comparative ease; if not it is 
next to impossible to get the body up. Faults in writing illus- 
trate the improper balance of the component movements in 
force. If the middle finger, for instance, presses too hard 



132 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

against the hand on a downward stroke, the stroke is pushed 
too far to the left. If the thumb presses too vigorously the 
stroke is deviated toward the right. 

Rhythm is a valuable help in forming coordinations. The 
proper adjustment of movements to one another in time 
and also in force is promoted by making the movement 
rhythmically. Rhythm has long been made use of by work- 
men to assist them to adjust properly the movements of 
different individuals to one another. For instance, in raising 
the anchor by turning the windlass, sailors use songs which 
enable them to give the impulse all at the same time. In the 
same manner the different individual movements which com- 
bine in a coordination seem to work together more harmoni- 
ously when the movement as a whole is made in a somewhat 
regular or rhythmical fashion. A smoothness and ease may 
be observed in a movement that is rhythmical which is 
absent from an irregular movement. The rhythmical move- 
ment may be made for a longer time without fatigue than 
one which is not rhythmical. A prominent example of the 
long continuance of rhythmical movements is to be found 
in the involuntary movements of the heart, the lungs, and 
other vital organs. Investigations of handwriting have 
shown that well-coordinated writing is made with greater 
rhythm than writing which is ill coordinated. For these 
reasons, therefore, it is a good practical rule to attempt to 
develop rhythm in any movement which we wish to learn. 

In the third class of sensori-motor learning the series of 
movements is more complex, and the stimulus to which the 
response is made is more highly organized. The third class 
of sensori-motor learning is not different in kind from the 
two preceding classes, but is rather different in degree. 
Illustrations may be used to bring out this difference. In 
typewriting and piano-playing, for instance, the require- 
ment is not that radically new or different or individual 



ACQUIRING SKILL 133 

movements be made, so much as that these movements be 
organized or arranged in complex series or patterns; and 
this arrangement of the movement is promoted by learning 
to recognize the words or the groups of notes to which the 
movements are the response. 

2. Methods and factors in sensori-motor learning 
The trial and success method is fundamental to sensori- 
motor learning. If one will examine his experience in learn- 
ing an act of skill he will recognize that to a large degree he 
did not foresee the favorable variations by which his move- 
ment became better. Nor did he recognize with any degree 
of clearness how the improvement was made after it came. 
The good performer is not necessarily a good teacher of 
others, because he does not know how he himself succeeded. 
The teacher needs to make a different sort of study of his 
activity than does the learner; and it may even be that the 
kind of analysis which is desirable for the teacher is unfavor- 
able to the highest degree of skill as a learner. The attitude 
of the learner is not to so high a degree the analytical atti- 
tude as is that of the teacher. The learner fixes his attention 
upon the result he wishes to produce and then attempts to 
repeat the movement which proves successful. The method 
is more or less one of blind trial. Each successful move is a 
step toward perfection. For this reason the method is called 
the trial and success method. 

The application of the trial and success method varies in 
the different classes of sensori-motor learning. In the first 
class, the trial and success method is necessary in those 
cases in which it is not possible to foresee what move to 
make. This is true in the maze form of learning with both 
human beings and animals. In the true maze one does not 
have any means of foretelling at each turn what path to 
take. He can therefore only discover the correct path by 



134 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

trying one of them out, and governing his actions by the 
result. If one had a guide to lead him through the maze the 
learning process would simply consist in associating the 
right movement with each turn in the path, without previ- 
ously having to determine by trial what the right move was. 
It is significant that human beings learn a maze in the 
same way as animals. In some of the other illustrations 
of this class of learning, however, the connection between 
the movement and the stimulus does not have to be discov- 
ered by blind trial. This is true, for example, of the act of 
sorting letters. Here the main purpose of practice is to fix 
the association between the stimulus and the response. The 
connection can be learned without having first to be dis- 
covered. In such cases as this trial and success is only 
applicable to learning the best mode of carrying out the 
movement in detail, such as the best method of handling the 
cards and throwing them into the box. 

When new movements have to be organized trial and suc- 
cess is the preeminent method. In those forms of learning 
which were included in the second class, such as ball-tossing, 
skating, bicycle riding, games of skill, handwriting, and 
pronunciation, our control of the individual movements 
which are to go into the final coordination is so limited, and 
so little under conscious direction, that we have no means 
of determining by analysis or reflection how the new move- 
ment is to be organized. This conclusion is emphasized by 
the study of the development of skill in the psychological 
laboratory, and by the study of the characteristics of those 
persons in ordinary life who possess a high degree of manual 
skill. The study of the development of skill in the labora- 
tory indicates that, in the majority of cases, the learners 
hit upon the successful method of performing a movement 
without foretelling how the movement is to be made and 
without any clear recognition after it was made of the man- 



ACQUIRING SKILL 135 

ner in which their success was attained. The improvement 
seems to come of itself with practice, although strict atten- 
tion is necessary in order to make good the gains which 
came thus in unforeseen manner. The study of those per- 
sons in every-day life who possess high manual skill indicates 
that this gift does not necessarily go with high ability in 
more intellectual pursuits. The exceptionally gifted baseball 
player, or expert in other games of skill, is not preeminently 
a person who shows high ability in science, art, politics, or 
in any other intellectual pursuit. In fact, it is quite common 
to observe men who have attained high distinction in their 
calling present a ludicrous spectacle on the golf links or on 
the tennis court. This does not mean that there is neces- 
sarily an opposition between manual skill and more abstract 
intellectual activities, nor does it mean that thinking may 
not properly be used in the development of skill; but it 
means that the fundamental and basic process in the devel- 
opment of skill is not the higher form of thought analysis. 

Trial and success is important in the forms of learning of 
the third class, although it is not preeminent, as in the sec- 
ond. In learning to play the piano, or to use the typewriter, 
or to carry on other highly organized complex movements of 
the same sort, there are elements of skill which have to be 
acquired through the trial and success methods. Since, how- 
ever, these forms of learning do not involve so radical a 
reorganization as those in the second class, and since the 
recognition of the stimulus and its organization is an 
important element, the trial and success method is not so 
prominent here as in the cases just described; but in such 
matters as developing the proper touch, or great ease, free- 
dom and rapidity of movement, the trial and success method 
is here also essential. 

Imitation and verbal direction supplement the trial and 
success method. It was pointed out under the head of the 



136 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

trial and success method that a guide might be a substitute 
for blind trial in learning the maze. There are also certain 
elements in other cases of sensori-motor learning in which a 
person who has himself been through the process is able 
to furnish directions or a model for guidance to the learner, 
which will somewhat reduce the necessity of discovering 
the best method of procedure by blind trial. One cannot 
doubt that the manner of holding the pen, the position of 
the paper, the attitude which one takes at the desk, and 
numerous other elements of one's position, contribute to- 
ward success or failure in forming a good habit of hand- 
writing. In the game of golf, while a person may sometimes 
be able to attain a moderately good score although he vio- 
lates most of the rules laid down by the experts, yet the 
following of the more fundamental of these rules unquestion- 
ably is favorable to the attainment of the highest degree of 
skill of which an individual is capable. The teacher of the 
violin or the piano quite rightly insists upon certain ele- 
mentary practices in hand position. In playing the violin, 
for instance, the wrist must be kept fairly well arched rather 
than be allowed to slump down. In learning to use the 
typewriter it is much better to use all of the fingers than 
to follow the natural practice of the untrained writer of us- 
ing only two or three, and there are certain fingers which 
are best to use in pressing certain keys. 

Form can be taught, execution must be learned. The 
elements of learning which have been used as illustrations 
of the possible usefulness of imitation and verbal directions 
may be summed up under the head of form. The form of 
any act comprises those positions or adjustments which 
one can assume in a more or less voluntary manner, because 
his previous experience has given him the necessary control 
over the parts of the body which are used. Thus in hand- 
ling the tennis racket it is a simple matter to grasp the 



ACQUIRING SKILL 137 

handle toward the end rathef than toward the middle. 
In driving a golf ball one can voluntarily assume such a 
position that the line joining his two feet will be approxi- 
mately parallel to the direction in which he wishes the ball 
to go. In studying the process of learning to keep two balls 
in the air with one hand, Swift found that the learners dis- 
covered accidentally that it was better to throw up a ball in 
a different position from that in which it was to fall so that 
the ball going up would not collide with the one coming 
down. There is no reason why the learners might not have 
been able to adopt this method of throwing if they had been 
so instructed. The application of blind trial in this case 
might therefore have been avoided by the use of instruction 
or by the use of a model to be followed. 

Imitation and instruction supplement each other. Imi- 
tation has value of a certain sort which is not possessed by 
verbal instruction, and the reverse is also true. Ordinarily 
the learner can get the more correct idea of the form which 
should be adopted by watching the teacher rather than being 
simply told how to assume the correct position. Imitation 
should therefore be used as the starting-point. In fact, in- 
structors commonly say that a young learner will adopt the 
correct form if he has good models to imitate, without any 
explicit instruction. Frequently, however, the learner does 
not succeed entirely in assuming the correct position from 
imitation. He does not realize the difference between his 
own position and that of the teacher. In such cases it is 
necessary to supplement imitation by means of verbal di- 
rection. That is, the pupil's attention must be called to the 
points in which his position differs from that of his teacher. 
By this means he may be led to examine the details of his 
position more carefully and to correct those which are 
wrong. 

It must not be supposed, however, that the adoption of 



138 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

good form is the whole story. A person's form may be fault- 
less and yet, in some manner or other which it is difficult to 
detect, the movement may always go wrong in the execution. 
The carrying out of the movement is a matter of such rapid- 
ity and such complexity that it cannot be directed in detail 
by means of attention to the details. Form or position is 
something which can be adjusted slowly and piecemeal. 
Execution can never be built up in this manner. Recent 
experiments by Gilbreth indicate that the study of motion 
picture records of movements may enable the learner to 
modify advantageously his movement in the direction of 
greater economy, but the possibility of this kind of analysis 
has not been completely explored. Attention to the details 
of execution are apt to overemphasize one part of the total 
movement in comparison to the other parts, and thus to 
throw the coordination off because the adjustment in time 
and force is not properly made. To put the matter in another 
way, in the acquirement of good form one's attention may be 
largely on his bodily adjustment, but in the acquirement of 
execution attention must be chiefly on the results which one 
is aiming to produce. By giving attention to results, after cor- 
rect position has been assumed at the start, the complemen- 
tary parts of total coordination fall into their proper places 
by the process of adjustment through success and failure. 

Passive or guided performance may have limited value. 
It is a serious question whether the completely passive 
performance of an act contributes anything toward its ac- 
tive performance. That is if one's hand is simply allowed to 
be guided through the making of a movement, when he is 
making no effort himself, it is doubtful whether the nervous 
connections which are essential to the development of the 
act are affected in the slightest degree thereby. The case 
may be different, however, with guided performance. In this 
case the learner is attempting to make the movement, but 



ACQUIRING SKILL 139 

does not know just how it is to be made. The teacher may 
assist him in making the movement, and in this way he gets 
the feeling of the movement in association with the success- 
ful result. It is probable that there is thus some contribution 
made to the connection which he is desiring to form between 
the stimulus and the response. Thus Bair found that in the 
study of learning to move the ears electrically stimulating 
the ears was of some assistance to the learner. It is com- 
monly believed that to take the child's hand and guide him 
in forming the letters in handwriting gives him such a feel- 
ing of the movement that he is better able to repeat it vol- 
untarily. In gymnastic feats the practice of putting the 
learner in a harness and assisting him to make the move- 
ment is common. One object of this practice, of course, is 
to prevent injury in performing somewhat dangerous feats, 
but the experience of making the movement, which is gained 
in this way, is probably of some assistance. 

Reflection or thinking is of limited value in sensori-motor 
learning. It has already been said that those who are suc- 
cessful in activities which require a high degree of skill are 
not as a class characterized by unusually high ability in 
abstract thought, or in intellectual pursuits. There are two 
possible ways in which thinking may be employed in fur- 
thering sensori-motor learning. In the first and simplest, 
thinking is simply a matter of recalling those experiences of 
the past which throw light upon the methods of learning. 
That is, one may recall the methods he used when he was 
successful, and contrast them with the methods which he 
pursued when he was unsuccessful. Such methods may 
be not simply the detailed adjustments which have pre- 
viously been made, but also the attitudes of mind with which 
the task was approached. This type of thinking is undoubt- 
edly of value. It is an extension of the trial and success 
method by means of memory. The other way in which think- 



140 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

ing may be used is to attempt to figure out theoretically the 
best adjustments with which to meet the demands of the 
task. This may be called the application of science to the de- 
velopment of skill. However this may be possible theoreti- 
cally, it is not the actual method which has commonly been 
pursued. The baseball pitcher does not learn to throw a 
curve by the application of the theoretical principles of 
science. The tennis player does not learn how best to hit the 
ball to obtain various kinds of strokes through the applica- 
tion of the principles of physics. There is no question but the 
principles of the sciences do have application in these fields, 
but the ordinary player certainly is not in a position to dis- 
cover the best methods to pursue by the application of these 
principles. There is another way in which science is being 
applied to the discovery of the best methods of learning. 
This procedure is illustrated in the experiments upon learn- 
ing which form the background of the principles set forth in 
these chapters. Science in this case is not applied to the 
external situation, but to the discovery of the kinds of ad- 
justments which the learner makes in order to be successful. 
Science is applied here to the learner himself, rather than to 
the situation in the physical world which confronts the 
learner. Even here, while we believe that science has much 
to say which is of help to the learner, the individual learner 
can investigate the principles of science for the purpose of 
discovery to only a limited extent, and then only when the 
learning is carried on under definitely controlled conditions. 
The attention in learning is commonly best directed on 
the objective conditions and the results of the learner's 
effort. Certain systems of teaching those acts which in- 
volve skill have called the learner's attention to the struc- 
ture and activity of the bodily organs which are used. There 
is a school of teachers of singing, for example, which instructs 
the learner in the anatomy and physiology of the organs of 



ACQUIRING SKILL 141 

speech, including the lungs, the vocal cords, the cavities 
of the mouth, the tongue, the lips, etc. There are certain 
methods of teaching handwriting which direct the pupil's 
attention intensely and for long periods toward his hand and 
his arm, as distinguished from the letters which he is form- 
ing. Contrary to these practices, Swift found in his experi- 
ment with ball-tossing that the learners directed their eyes 
and their attention chiefly upon the ball as it went through 
the air, and that their eyes never, and their attention seldom, 
reverted to their hands or arms. This represents the ex- 
treme opposite of the practice suggested above. In the case 
of singing this would mean that the learner's attention 
would be chiefly upon the tone which he is producing and the 
comparison between this and the model which he was at- 
tempting to imitate. In the case of handwriting this would 
mean that the pupil's aim would be to produce a form which 
was like the form which he is copying, or to discover the 
defects in his own writing and to remedy these defects. The_ 
extreme practice of giving attention wholly or chiefly to 
the result which is being produced is preferable to the ex- 
treme practice of giving chief attention to the method by 
which the result is reached. But it is not necessary to choose 
either of these two extremes. The distinction which has 
already been made in discussing the different methods of 
learning will apply to this issue. The discovery or the at- 
tainment of good form in the movement may be furthered 
by some attention to the process, or to the adjustment of 
the part of the body which is being used. It is related that 
an American crew defeated an English crew in rowing by 
means of a stroke which was not at all in accord with the 
traditional principles which governed the sport. The coach 
of the American crew had developed what he called the 
"Git-thar" stroke. His aim had been to discover the kind 
of stroke which produced the greatest speed, and he was not 



142 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

bound particularly by the traditional form which had been 
handed down. The individual, of course, must be conserva- 
tive in modifying the form which has been determined by 
previous experimentation to be the best, but he should never 
lose sight of the results in his endeavor to acquire correct 
form. 

The Golden Rule of sensori-motor learning is much repe- 
tition. It follows clearly from the analysis of sensori-motor 
learning that progress can be gained only through a large 
amount of practice. This principle has frequently been vio- 
lated. In drawing and writing in the past the child has been 
so taught that he produced a very limited amount during 
a practice period. The drawing book and the copybook were 
designed to last for a whole year, and yet might be filled by 
a child using the modern method in a few weeks. The ideal 
of the older procedure was to stimulate the child to reach 
a high degree of perfection by slow and painful effort. The 
principle of the modern method is to tolerate a large amount 
of inaccuracy in the child's early efforts and to expect him 
to attain a moderate degree of speed, and then to improve 
in both speed and accuracy together. 

Repetition to be of value must be progressive. Not- 
withstanding the need of repetition mere repetition may be 
worse than useless. The careless going over of an act with- 
out strict attention to the results, so that improved methods 
are taken advantage of and poor methods are continually 
being eliminated, serves to confirm the learner in the errors 
which he happens to be making, or even permits him to fall 
into new errors. Repetition produces progress only by the 
application of the principles of reward and punishment. 
Reward and punishment may be applied in a literal and 
physical sense, as when an animal is taught to approach 
red rather than blue, by being given food when he approaches 
red and being given an electric shock when he approaches 



ACQUIRING SKILL 143 

blue. Reward and punishment, on the other hand, may be 
of a more remote character, and may consist in the satisfac- 
tion which follows gradual attainment by the learner of an 
aim which he has set up for himself. Thus, in learning to 
write the reward comes when the pupil succeeds better in 
producing easily and rapidly the standard forms, and the 
punishment is the uncomfortable feeling he has when he fails. 
The application of reward and punishment in this case de- 
pends altogether on the pupil's discrimination between those 
efforts which are in the right direction and those which are 
in the wrong direction. This necessitates that he be given 
aid in the analysis of his results. He must be induced not 
only to compare in a general way his own writing with the 
model, but also to criticize his own writing from various 
particular points of view, such as uniformity, quality of 
line, letter formation and spacing. 

The feeling attitude in learning must be neither too in- 
tense nor too relaxed. The psychologists, Bryan and Har- 
ter, in their study of the telegraphic language, laid down the 
principle, "It is only intense effort that educates." This 
principle has been questioned by other investigators, who 
point out that very intense effort may cause anxiety and con- 
fusion, and thus retard progress rather than further it. In 
the consideration of this question we may recognize both the 
fact that an easy-going or a lazy attitude toward one's work 
is not productive of gain, and at the same time that anxiety 
and an effort artificially to stimulate oneself may entirely 
miss the mark. It is not only necessary to put forth effort, 
but the effort must be under control. The speed of perform- 
ance must not be allowed to exceed the point at which accu- 
racy can be maintained. Effort must not be allowed to pro- 
duce confusion of mind. The application of effort must be 
consistent and not spasmodic. Finally, the effort to be most 
productive should not be worked up in an artificial manner, 



144 



HOW CHILDREN LEARN 



but should be the result of one's interest and absorption 
in the matter in hand. His desire should be not so much to 
put forth energy as to accomplish results. Here, again, at- 
tention to the objective results is a corrective of error. 

The practice curve is complicated by a number of factors. 
The first factor which influences the practice curve is the 
method by which the curve itself is constructed. This is 
a purely technical affair, and is not influenced by the real 



140 






130 


- 




120 


- 




MO 


- 




100 






90 


- 




o> 80 


. 


r Main line rate / 


^70 


y 




J 60 
^50 
S.40 


J 




52 30 

<v 
£20 

J3 io 


// i i i i i i 


i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i | i i i i i_i_i 



4 8 12 
Weeks of practice 



16 



20 24 28 32 36 40 



Fig. 11. Curves of Sending and Receiving of One Learner 

in Telegraphy 

(From Bryan and Barter's article in Psychological Review, vol. iv, by permission 
of the publishers.) 



nature of the process in learning itself. In general, the prac- 
tice curve is constructed by plotting a series of points, each 
of which represents by its height above the base line the de- 
gree of skill the learner has reached, and by its position on 
the horizontal line the stage in the total learning period 
when that degree of skill was reached. Thus a curve which 
rises from left to right represents improvement in skill. 
The method of constructing the practice curve which is 



ACQUIRING SKILL 



145 



probably the best, is to divide the whole practice period into 
equal units of time, to be represented by the divisions on the 
base line, and to calculate the proficiency which is attained 
at these successive periods of time by the number of acts 
which can be performed in a given unit of time. For example, 
in typewriting this would mean that the base line would rep- 
resent hours or days of practice, and that the height of the 



2100 
1900 
1700 
IS00 

m 

§ 1300 
a 

« 1100 
o 

S: 900 
| 700 

o 

& 500 

•M- 

u 300 



I 100 
55 




J L 



J. 



JL 



-i_ 



J. 



■ — i 
10 20 30 40 50 W 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 
Amount of exercise: io hours. 

Fig. 12. Curves of Progress in Typewriting 

(From E. L. Thorndike's Educational Psychology, vol. n, by permission of Teachers 
College, Columbia University.) 



curve above each point on the base line should represent the 
number of letters which could be written in a minute or an 
hour. Figures 11, 12, and 13 show three curves constructed 
according to this plan. The first represents progress in tele- 
graphic language by Bryan and Harter; the second repre- 
sents progress in typewriting from Book; and the third prog- 



146 



HOW CHILDREN LEARN 



ress in mirror drawing. There are evidently represented 
here three types of practice curves, one in which the progress 
is rapid for a time and slow later on, showing what is called 
negative acceleration, another in which the progress is 
fairly uniform throughout the learning period, and the third 
which shows more rapid progress toward the end of the 

Drawings 
per minute 
6 - 



i i i t t t i t i i i i i i i i iii 



I 5 10 

20 Second Intervals 



20 



25 



Fig. 13. Practice Curve in Mirror Drawing 

Based on the average scores of a group of individuals (using drawings per 
minute in equal intervals of time to construct the curve). 



learning period than at the beginning. The form of the prac- 
tice curve doubtless depends largely upon the nature of the 
learning, and in particular upon its relation to previous 
acquisitions. If a previously learned movement can be 
applied without very radical alteration to the new task, 
progress will be likely to be rapid at the beginning and slow 



ACQUIRING SKILL 147 

later on, as the limit of the improvement is approached. 
If, on the other hand, a radical reorganization of move- 
ment is necessary it seems likely that the progress will be 
slower at the beginning, perhaps increasing later on and 
finally reaching a point where it slows down again. We 
cannot say that there is any one universal form of practice 
curve. 

The practice curve shows many fluctuations in ability. 
The fluctuations in the practice curve may be of a tempo- 
rary character or longer continued. A sudden drop or sudden 
rise in achievement may last only for a day at a time or may 
extend over several days or even over weeks and months. 
It has been customary to distinguish between minor fluctua- 
tions and longer fluctuations in the curve, and to give the 
name of plateaus to these longer retardations in progress. 
No such sharp line as this can be drawn, however. We find 
fluctuations which represent all the degrees between a 
daily rise or fall in the curve and a plateau. The most 
general statement which can be made in regard to progress 
is that it is not uniform, but that every learning curve has 
its ups and downs. Some of these ups and downs are of very 
short duration, but others last for longer periods of time. 
The short time fluctuations are difficult to explain. It 
seems probable that they are due partly to chance. In 
some cases different degrees of difficulty in the task itself 
may account for them, and in other cases changes in one's 
physical condition or attitude may be the source of the 
fluctuation. Frequently the learner is not conscious of the 
fact that he is doing especially well or especially poorly, 
until he examines his score. It is not possible to connect the 
good or the bad scores directly with physical condition, 
or at least the attempts which have thus far been made 
have not been able to find close connection between phys- 
ical condition and rate of progress. We must accept these 



148 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

minor fluctuations as apparently necessary elements of the 
practice curve, and possibly ascribe them to the great com- 
plexity of the factors which influence it. If they are recog- 
nized as perfectly normal manifestations we are in a position 
to avoid becoming discouraged by them. 

Plateaus appear in the more complex forms of learning. 
The discovery of the long time fluctuations or retardations 
in the practice curve was made by Bryan and Harter in their 
study of the telegraphic language. It was significant that 
they found the plateau to exist, not in the process of sending 
a message, but only in receiving a message. The retardation 
in progress came in the organization of the perceptual stim- 
uli rather than in the development of the movement of 
tapping the key and sending the message over the wire. 
Plateaus have often been found in such complex processes 
as learning to use the typewriter and learning a foreign lan- 
guage. In ball-tossing and mirror drawing, on the other 
hand, and in some of the simpler forms of associative learn- 
ing, plateaus do not appear. Plateaus seem to be particularly 
prominent in those forms of learning which require a com- 
bination of activities, and in which the learning process is 
in large measure the development of these combinations. 
Since this process is most largely characteristic of perceptual 
learning, plateaus can be most appropriately discussed in 
that connection. 

3. Individual and age differences 
The child is commonly thought superior in sensori-motor 
learning. It is the common belief that the child is capable 
of developing skill more readily than is the older person. 
This belief is found frequently among those whose business 
it is to teach various forms of skill. One hears it said that 
in order to learn to play the piano or to use the typewriter, 
or to play a game such as golf or tennis, with the highest 



ACQUIRING SKILL 149 

degree of skill, it is necessary that the earner should begin 
during childhood. 

The child is inferior to the adult in rapidity of movement 
and steadiness of adjustment. To the disadvantage of the 
child are certain facts which have been clearly brought out 
by experimentation. It appears from a study of the rate 
of movement oi: persons of different ages that the child is not 
capable of such rapid movement as the older person. Com- 
parative measurements of children of different ages from 
six to seventeen years show an increase in the rapidity of 
tapping of sixty per cent. Similar improvement has been 
found in the ability to make rapid strokes with the pen. A 
marked improvement is also found in the ability to main- 
tain the body as a whole, or any part of the body, in a steady 
position. This has been measured by recording the amount 
of involuntary movement which a person makes when he 
tries to hold still. One investigator found that the amount 
of involuntary movement of the body as a whole is only one 
fourth as great, and of the finger one sixth as great, in case 
of the adult as it is in the case of the child just entering 
school. This increase in steadiness is a very marked ad- 
vantage in any form of development of skill. 

To attain the highest skill, one should begin early ; but the 
child learns more slowly than the adult. Two forms of 
this question should be distinguished. We may ask first 
whether children can reach a higher degree of attainment 
than the adult; or whether a person can reach a higher 
attainment when he begins as a child than when he begins 
at a later age. Or we may ask whether a child or an adult im- 
proves more quickly in the development of skill. The two 
questions are not identical. It may be possible that a child 
can ultimately reach a higher stage of development when he 
begins early, although he is not able to improve so rapidly 
in the beginning. It will probably be conceded that in order 



150 



HOW CHILDREN LEARN 



to reach the highest degree of ability in motor skill, it is 
usually necessary to begin during childhood, though there 
are exceptions to this rule. With reference to the immediate 
effect of a given amount of practice, however, it is doubtful 
whether the child can attain as much improvement by the 
same amount of practice as can the adult. 

A controlled experiment with one child indicates inferi- 
ority to adults. Since we have not at hand more extensive 



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I 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 II 12 13 14 15 16 17 li 
Trials (averages of 4) 

Fig. 14. Curves of Two Adults and an Eight-Year-Old Girl 
in the Same Kind of Sensori-Motor Learning 



studies in the comparison of children with adults in sensori- 
motor learning one case may be cited as a bit of evidence. In 
this study the child of eight years was put through a training 
experiment in tossing shot into a tumbler. The child's par- 
ents also went through the same experiment under exactly 
the same conditions. All three individuals were interested 
in the experiment and pursued it with vigor. The accom- 
panying Figure 14 shows the practice curves of the child and 



ACQUIRING SKILL 151 

the two adults. The child is observed to be inferior to the 
adults throughout the practice period, and to improve with 
about the same degree of rapidity as the adults. At the end 
of the training period the child was inferior to the adults by 
about the same amount as at the beginning. 1 

The child's plasticity is an advantage from the point of 
view of final attainment, and a disadvantage from the point 
of view of rapid progress. It is common to say that the 
child has the advantage over the adult because of the fact 
that he is more plastic. It is necessary to define clearly what 
we mean by plasticity. It is true that the child has not so 
many habits of movement as has the older person, and it 
is therefore probably easier for him to develop habits of a 
special sort because of the fact that older habits do not in- 
terfere with them. Thus, in the case of language, the child 
has not acquired firmly fixed habits of pronunciation, which 
interfere with his acquirement of the different modes of pro- 
nunciation of a new language. On the other hand, habits 
which have been learned previously are, in a large measure, 
the means of rapid learning of a new form of activity. The 
adult in so far has an advantage over the child, in that he 
has more habits of control which he can apply to the new 
situation. It may very well be that the adult can attain more 
rapid improvement because he has more older habits which 
can be applied in the new problem, but that he cannot 
finally attain such a high rank, because of the fact that the 
older habits are not exactly like the ones which have to be 
formed in the new task, and that therefore they interfere 
with the formation of the newer habits. This conclusion 
would seem to be supported by the fact that adults rarely 
learn to pronounce foreign languages without an accent. 

Plasticity in the child is contrasted with control in the 
adult. As has just been said, the child is less hampered by 

1 From an unpublished study by Mr. J. F. Gonnelly. 



152 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

previously learned ways of acting than is the older person. 
He is capable of doing new and different things more easily. 
On the other hand, the habit which the adult has already 
formed may serve as means of control by means of which new 
habits may be formed. The adult has more control over his 
activities, and this control is represented by his existing 
stock of habits. If these habits, which he already possesses, 
can be readily used in the activity which is to be learned 
they are of advantage. Since old habits can be used in most 
forms of learning the adult has in most cases an advantage 
at the beginning. Since, however, these habits have to be 
modified, in the great majority of cases, before the new ac- 
tivities can be perfected there is a certain degree of inter- 
ference between the adult's control and the new activity 
which he has to develop. 

The child's plasticity favors imitation as a method of 
learning. When the adult sees another person perform a new 
act he has a tendency to translate it in terms of acts which 
he himself can perform. He is limited, so to speak, by the 
vocabulary of action which he already possesses. He may not 
realize that he is failing to copy the teacher accurately, and 
this places a limitation upon progress. The child begins 
without such definite habits of movements and therefore 
he is in a position to copy more faithfully the model which 
is set before him. Since the nervous impulse does not have 
such a pronounced tendency to flow into particular channels, 
there is greater freedom for the child to develop the chan- 
nels of discharge which will produce a movement most like 
the one which he is attempting to imitate. 

The child's suppleness is an advantage. The child may 
have an additional advantage due to the fact that his 
muscles and joints are more supple than are the adult's. 
The fact of plasticity mentioned in the preceding paragraph 
has to do with the connections in the nervous system. 



ACQUIRING SKILL 



153 



Apart from this type of plasticity, it may be that the child's 
body is a more pliable tool for the nervous system. It cer- 
tainly is true that he is more supple and this undoubtedly 
gives him a certain advantage. 

There are wide individual differences. It must be kept 
in mind that in addition to differences due to age, there are 
wide differences among individuals. There is a great over- 
lapping between the ability of children of the early and 
later ages. Many children of six years will have a greater 
skill of movement than others many years older. These 
facts have to be taken into account in teaching manual 
training, handwriting, or sewing, or any other subject which 
involves the development of manual skill. 

Table I. The Distribution or all the Fifth-Grade Pu- 
pils in one City in Writing, with reference to Form 
and Speed 











Form 








Ay rea scale 
















Letters -per minute 


SO and 


30 and 


Ifi and 


50 and 


60 and 


70 and 


80 and 


90 




25 


35 


45 


65 


65 


75 


85 




100 and 




















above 


3 


4 


5 


2 


5 


1 


_ 


— 




90-99 


1 


4 


9 


6 


2 


_ 


_ 


- 




80-89 


3 


10 


20 


29 


27 


14 


2 


_ 




70-79 


7 


16 


30 


31 


42 


8 


3 


— 


<v 

a, 


00-69 


2 


22 


38 


32 


37 


12 


1 


- 


w 


50-59 


8 


13 


29 


32 


40 


12 


5 


1 




40-49 


4 


5 


17 


14 


22 


11 


7 


_ 




30-39 


1 


1 


1 


2 


4 


1 


1 


_ 




20-29 


— 


— 


— 


1 


1 


- 


— 


- 



Children's handwriting shows remarkable individual 
differences. The importance of individual differences may 
perhaps be best brought out by reference to the activity of 
handwriting. If we measure the range and the excellence 



154 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

of writing of the children of any school grade we will find 
that they differ among each other to a very surprising degree. 
Children of the same school grade may vary from the bottom 
to the top of the scale in form, and from twenty letters a min- 
ute to over one hundred letters a minute in speed. The scat- 
tering of the children in the same grade and the same school 
system is brought out in Table I. This table was made up 
by locating each child with reference to both form and speed. 
The scores in form are represented by the numbers across 
the top of the table and the scores in speed by the numbers 
on the left-hand margin. Thus, if a child makes a high score 
in form he will be placed toward the right of the table and 
if he makes a high score in speed he will be placed toward 
the top. His position will be determined by the square on 
the table which forms the intersection of the numbers rep- 
resenting his form and his speed. After a tally was placed 
in this way for each child the tallies were added and their 
number placed in the squares. These numbers are repre- 
sented in the table. For example, there were forty children 
who wrote with a speed of fifty to fifty -nine letters a minute, 
and whose form was rated at sixty or sixty -five. The star- 
tling fact is that we find the children so widely scattered over 
the various parts of the table, which shows that there are 
very wide variations in the speed and the form of the writing 
of this grade, and also in the relation between speed and 
form. Some children may write very well but very slowly 
while others write well and rapidly. On the other hand, some 
children write very rapidly and poorly while others write 
slowly and poorly. 

Training should be adjusted to individual differences. 
The ordinary school training which gives the same kind and 
amount of practice to children who differ so widely in their 
abilities, is an injustice to all of the children except those who 
are in the middle rank. The study of tables for the fifth, 



ACQUIRING SKILL 155 

sixth, and seventh grades, of the sort which is represented 
here, indicates that twenty-five per cent of the children are 
already superior in the characteristics of both form and speed 
to the next grade above them, and that fully forty per cent 
of these children would be superior in both form and speed to 
the next grade above them if they had developed these two 
characteristics in proper balance. There can be no question 
that much time is wasted in giving these children training 
which they do not need. On the other hand, the children 
who are at the lower end of the scale are not profiting as 
they should by the training which they receive. They re- 
quire special training either in amount or in kind, and prob- 
ably in both, to raise their ability to the point which it 
should reach. It is probably not advisable to attempt to so 
reduce the differences between the children of the same grade 
as to bring them all to the same point of achievement. 
This is an extreme which it would be hardly possible to 
reach; but a reduction of the amount of divergence which 
now exists by one half would very greatly improve the 
present situation. Undoubtedly the same wide divergences 
could be found in other subjects which have not been sub- 
jected to as precise study as has this. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. Take a pack of cards containing several series numbered from 1 to 10, 
shuffle them, and sort them into piles by their numbers. Do not 
arrange the piles in a regidar sequence. Repeat the sorting often 
enough to acquire considerable facility. Keep a record of the time 
required for each sorting and draw a curve to represent your progress. 

2. Arrange a mirror in front of you on the table so that it will give a view 
of a piece of paper on the table before you. Place a cardboard or paper 
screen so that you cannot see the paper directly. Prepare a series of 
sheets of paper by drawing on them each a square 2 inches in diameter. 
Place the paper with the square upon it squarely before you and draw 
the diagonals as rapidly as possible while viewing the figure in the 
mirror. Keep a record of the time required. Repeat ten times and draw 
a curve of your progress. 



156 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

3. Compare the two cases of learning represented above. 

4. Is diffusion involved in both examples of learning? If so is it equally 
prominent? 

5. In mirror drawing is coordination with reference to time or force the 
more prominent? Compare mirror drawing in this respect with dancing. 

6. Was the trial and success method involved in sorting cards? In mirror 
drawing? 

7. Compare the role of repetition in those cases in which trial and success 
is and is not prominent. 

8. Give two additional illustrations of advantageous good form in learning. 

9. In what would attention to the result consist in wood working? 
10. Apply the facts regarding the child's inferiority in motor ability. 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

Bair, J. H. "The Development of Voluntary Control"; in Psychol. Rev., 
vol. vm, p. 474. (1901.) 

Book, W. F. The Psychology of Skill. University of Montana, Publications 
in Psychology. 

Bryan, W. L. "On the Development of Voluntary Motor Ability"; in 
Amer. Jour, of Psychol., vol. v, pp. 125-204. 

Bryan, W. L. and Harter, N. " Studies in the Physiology and Psychology 
of the Telegraphic Language "; in Psychol. Rev., vol. iv, pp. 27-53. (1897.) 

Parker, S. C. Methods of Teaching in High Schools. (Ginn & Co., 1915.) 

Swift, E. J. Mind in the Making. (Scribner's, 1908.) 

Thorndike, E. L. Educational Psychology, vol. n. (Teachers College, Co- 
lumbia University. 1913.) 

Washburn, Margaret Floy. The Animal Mind. (New York, 1908.) 



CHAPTER IX 

BUILDING UP PERCEPTIONS 

It was shown in the preceding chapter that the develop- 
ment of skill depends on the response to stimuli which are 
presented to the senses. No learning is possible without the 
apprehension of the stimulus, and hence some perceptual 
learning is involved in learning of the simplest sensori- 
motor sort. There are particular forms of learning, however, 
in which the recognition of the stimulus is not simply a„nec- 
essary means to an immediate reaction, but is the main 
object or aim. Thus, in writing, it is necessary to learn the 
form of the letter and the meaning of the combination of let- 
ters in words in order that we may produce them on paper. 
In reading, on the other hand, the aim is not to learn the 
form in order that it may be reproduced, but rather to gain 
such recognition of the form that it may be understood. 

In perceptual learning the first aim is to obtain a clear and 
correct apprehension of the object. The gaining of a clear- 
cut sensory impression is itself the result of development. 
The child in the beginning does not recognize form, al- 
though to the adult form appears to be inherent in the sen- 
sation itself. That this recognition is not inherent in the 
sensation, but is the product of development, is shown in 
those cases in which our form recognition is erroneous. Such 
cases are illustrated in optical illusions. The Mtiller-Lyer 
illusion, shown in Figure 15, is an illustration of this. The 
two lines which are inclosed in arrow-heads, the one set 
pointing inward and the other outward, are of equal length, 
as may be demonstrated by measurement. They appear to 
the ordinary observer, however, to be very unequal in length. 



158 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

Our comparison of the length of these two horizontal lines is 
therefore affected by the presence of the oblique lines. Such 




Fig. 15. Muller-Lyer Illusion 

a simple perception as this turns out to be a complicated af- 
fair. It has grown up as a result of the early experience of 
the child. But ordinary experience has not given the train- 
ing necessary to perfect this particular recognition. By 
means of special training on this particular point the com- 
parison of length in the Muller-Lyer illusion can be made 
more accurate. This is done by gradually learning to dis- 
regard the distracting oblique lines. This illustration shows 
that in what we call in ordinary language sensory impres- 
sions there is more than simple sensations. There is in such 
an experience a combination of sensations ; and there is added 
to the sensory impression itself the interpretation which has 
come from experience. In the more exact language of psy- 
chology, such seemingly simple but really complex experi- 
ences, which are caused by sensory stimulation, are called 
perceptions. What in ordinary speech are called sensations, 
and in technical language perceptions, require training and 
experience for their development. 

In other examples of perceptual learning the interpreta- 
tion of the sensory impression is a more prominent feature. 
This is illustrated well in reading, either of words or of musi- 
cal notation, or of any other symbols such as mathematical 
symbols. In this case we have to learn, not only to clearly 
distinguish the form of the object, but also to associate a par- 



BUILDING UP PERCEPTIONS 159 

ticular form with its appropriate meaning. If the child has 
learned to observe a card with the letter a printed upon it, 
and to pick out from a miscellaneous assortment all of the 
cards which have the same letter upon them, he has de- 
veloped a rather simple sort of form recognition. If he has 
learned to connect the names of the letters with the letters, 
he has developed an additional type of recognition. But 
if he can also recognize words, such as dog, cat, house and 
knows that these printed words represent particular objects 
in his experience, he has developed an interpretation which 
is of a still higher sort. It is this sort of interpretation which 
represents the highest form of perceptual development. 

1. The processes in perceptual learning 
Perceptual learning requires first the discrimination be- 
tween sensations. In order that an orange and a lemon may 
be recognized and distinguished, there are certain discrim- 
inations between the sensations which we receive from these 
two objects which must be made. The color of the orange 
will commonly be distinguished from that of the lemon. This 
is visual discrimination. The shape of the orange will be 
distinguished by the recognition through the eye of the 
round orange as distinguished from the more elliptical lemon. 
This discrimination in form goes back to earlier experience 
in handling objects, and has as an important element the 
experience of running the hand over objects, to gain the 
impression of their shape through touch, and through the 
sensation of movement. If one is in doubt as to which ob- 
ject is presented to him he may resort to taste. In any 
case, the earlier taste experiences form a part of his recog- 
nition of the sourness of the lemon and the greater sweet- 
ness of the orange. Thus, in this simple distinction between 
two objects there is involved a considerable number of 
simple sensory discriminations. 



1G0 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

The bearing of sensory discrimination on the more com- 
plicated processes may be illustrated further from the field 
of music. In music the ability to discriminate between the 
pitch of different tones is essential to the recognition of 
melody and of harmony. There are some persons who are 
called monotones, and who are unable to distinguish be- 
tween a high and a low tone. Such persons very obviously 
cannot appreciate the chief elements of music. The only 
distinctions of musical nature which are possible are those 
of rhythm and of loudness. 

Other illustrations of discrimination. One's ability to 
discriminate between sensations is comparatively easily 
tested, and experiments have even been carried on in con- 
siderable number to test the ability of animals in sense 
discrimination. One may measure discrimination between 
sensations of sight, as the different shades of color, or of 
grays, or the differences in intensity of light. One may meas- 
ure the discrimination between the length of lines. In hear- 
ing, besides pitch discrimination, one may measure discrim- 
ination in loudness. This is the test which is ordinarily given 
for acuity of hearing. In the field of touch one may measure 
the ability to distinguish between one and two points of 
contact on the skin. If two points are placed simultaneously 
on the skin near together they cannot be distinguished, but 
if they are separated a sufficient distance they can be dis- 
tinguished as two. The point at which they can just be 
distinguished as two is called the threshold of two-point dis- 
crimination. One may measure the discrimination of strain 
sensations by testing an individual's ability to distinguish 
between weights of small difference. One may pursue simi- 
lar investigations in the field of taste or of smell or of tem- 
perature. 

Improvement in sensory discrimination as a result of 
practice is limited. The improvement in the ability to dis- 



BUILDING UP PERCEPTIONS 161 

tinguish between sensations of slight difference appears to 
be based on two elements. All discrimination as tested in 
the laboratory depends in the first place upon the subject's 
ability to understand the directions which are given him, 
and to pay attention at just the right time and in just the right 
way. For example, if we are testing the child's ability in pitch 
discrimination he must know what we mean by a high tone 
or a low tone. In addition to this he must be able to tell 
us correctly the result of his observation. If we tell him to 
report whether the second tone which is given is higher or 
lower, he must remember the directions correctly and report 
in accordance with them. Otherwise there may be an error 
which is not due to his discrimination but to his ability to 
follow the directions. Finally, he must have his attention 
focused upon the tones and upon their pitch at just the right 
instant of time. Certain experimenters who have found 
improvement to take place in ability to discriminate have 
ascribed that improvement to the improved ability to pay 
attention to just the right element of the stimulus. In addi- 
tion to this improvement in the ability properly to meet the 
experimental conditions it is possible that there may be 
some improvement in the sense itself. In the case of a ma- 
ture person it is very doubtful whether there is improve- 
ment of this latter sort as a result of training. There is 
possibly more improvement with age on this score, though 
even this is denied by competent investigators. This con- 
clusion is borne out by the fact that one's highest possible 
ability in sense discrimination may be reached with a com- 
paratively short period of training. This improvement may 
be rather large if one has not been accustomed to practice 
in discrimination, and in reporting the results of his dis- 
crimination; but a fairly definite limit is likely to be 
reached rather soon. As we shall see later, this is reached 
at different points by different persons; and it appears 



162 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

to be fairly definitely fixed by the nature of the sense 
organs. 

Sensory discrimination is a subordinate element in the 
higher forms of perceptual learning. We may recur to the 
illustration of music. While pitch discrimination is an im- 
portant element in the appreciation or production of music 
one may have a high degree of pitch discrimination with 
little or no musical ability. Fine discrimination of colors is 
undoubtedly necessary to the painter or to the art critic; but 
mere color discrimination is not sufficient for one to distin- 
guish between good and bad color harmony, or to judge the 
composition of a picture. There are perhaps a few occupa- 
tions in which a very high degree of sense discrimination is 
the chief requirement. It is probably true that this is the 
chief requisite for a tea taster. In most occupations, however, 
a very high degree of sensory discrimination is not required; 
and even in most of those in which fine discrimination is 
necessary or desirable it is not the most important element. 

Training in sensory discrimination is acquired for the most 
part incidentally. The musician does not set himself to long 
periods of practice in distinguishing different tones. He 
acquires the ability to discriminate finely between tones, but 
he does so as a consequence of his other training. The 
violin player acquires this ability in tuning his instrument, 
and in paying attention to discover whether his own instru- 
ment is in tune with others. The painter does not give him- 
self formal exercise in distinguishing or matching colors, but 
gets his training in attempting to match the color on his 
painting with that of the object which he is trying to rep- 
resent. The blind person develops his extremely fine dis- 
crimination of touch by learning to recognize different ob- 
jects or to read the Braille print. 

Furthermore, what we often ascribe to high ability in 
sense discrimination is really ability in interpretation. Thus 



BUILDING UP PERCEPTIONS 163 

the fact that the sailor can recognize land before the lands- 
man is not due to the fact that his eyes are keener, but to 
the fact that he knows what signs to look for and knows the 
meaning of the signs he sees. The ability of the woodsman to 
follow the traces of an animal or a human being through the 
forest is due to his ability in observation rather than to his 
ability in sense discrimination. He knows where to look for 
the broken twig or the faint foot-print, and he knows what 
these signs mean. 

The value of specific drill in sensory discrimination is 
therefore limited. The facts which have been mentioned all 
point in the same direction. We have been told recently by 
certain educators that the most important type of training 
that can be given the young is development of keenness in 
sensory discrimination. In application of this general prin- 
ciple exercises have been devised for the purpose of training 
discrimination. Such formal exercises run the risk of entail- 
ing great waste of time. A small amount of formal training 
properly devised to give the child just the kind and degree of 
ability which he will need in some more complicated form of 
learning may be of value. But unless the training is limited 
in this way it is likely to produce mere keenness of the senses 
without the ability to use this keenness in better understand- 
ing or control of the objects of the physical world. What the 
child needs is a wide acquaintance with many sorts of phys- 
ical objects, and the sort of experience with them that will 
enable him to know what they mean. When the practical 
demands make it necessary that he should have a higher 
degree of discrimination than he possesses, this motive will 
stimulate him to acquire incidentally training which will be 
sufficient for his needs. 

The second process of perceptual learning is the com- 
bination of sensations into perceptions of objects. We 
very rarely, if ever, experience single sensations. A sensa- 



164 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

tion always stands, to us as the sign of an object; and if we 
analyze objects we will see that they represent whole groups 
of sensations to us. When the child picks up his rattle, he 
also sees it, and hears it, and gets movement sensations 
in waving it, in addition to the touch sensation in handling 
it. Any one of these sensations will at a later time call to 
his mind, more or less clearly, the other sensations which he 
has experienced from the same object at the same time. This 
combination of sensations which come from the same object 
is called in technical language complication or fusion. It 
takes place at a rapid rate in the early months and years of 
the child's life. There is a period in which the child has not 
learned to connect the sight sensations which he gets from 
objects with the touch sensations which he receives in han- 
dling them. The closeness which this fusion finally attains is 
well illustrated in the size-weight illusion. If two bottles or 
boxes which are very different in size, but the same in weight, 
are lifted simultaneously the smaller object appears to be 
much the heavier. This is because we have learned to make 
a vigorous movement in lifting a large object, and we there- 
fore lift the large object so much more energetically than 
the small one that it appears light by contrast. The chief 
point at which this matter of complication is of interest for 
later learning is in the recognition of form. Form recog- 
nition is susceptible of a large degree of development, even 
in the case of the average mature person. We commonly 
think of the recognition of form as based altogether on sight. 
Sight, however, is in this matter largely a means of repre- 
senting the experiences which we have previously had in 
touching and in moving our hands and eyes over an object. 
The earlier recognition of form which is obtained through 
experiences of touch and of movement is the more funda- 
mental, and the later sight experiences serve to revive or to 
represent these. 



BUILDING UP PERCEPTIONS 1G5 

The recognition of form is complex and subject to in- 
definite development. The features of learning to recognize 
a new or complex form are illustrated in drawing a compli- 
cated figure. In the beginning one has only a vague and 
indefinite idea of the figure that he is to draw. He has a 
general comprehension of its shape, or he may, if his type of 
mind is of another sort, see more clearly a few more isolated 
details, but he fails to combine the comprehensive view and 
a clear recognition of the parts. If we study the process 
by which he attains this clear and comprehensive view we 
discover a number of significant facts. In the first place, 
the process in general is not one of merely receiving pas- 
sively an impression. The figure is not, so to speak, photo- 
graphed on one's mind, but one proceeds in an active way to 
the exploration and study of it. This activity is well brought 
in the manner in which one learns to draw a series of lines 
which are arranged in a generally horizontal direction. The 
study and drawing of such a figure is almost universally be- 
gun at the left hand end. So far as the impression itself is 
concerned, there is no reason why the right hand end should 
not be developed as early as the left end; but the habit 
which we have formed of beginning at the left end in reading 
and writing undoubtedly influences us in the study of such 
a figure. Previously formed ideas are also actively used as 
well as previously formed habits. If the figure is of a na- 
ture which permits, the lines which compose it are likely to 
be counted. This means that the idea of number is em- 
ployed. Further, the angles which are formed by the lines 
are likely to be estimated, and the lines themselves are classi- 
fied according as they are straight or curved. Their length 
is noticed, and the other characteristics which we have 
learned to observe because of our previous knowledge and 
the customary classification of different kinds of lines and 
of figures. Through this active process, in which previous 



166 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

habits and ideas are used, we finally come to a cleared-up 
recognition of the figure as a whole. We commonly fail to 
pay attention to the manner in which we arrive at this later 
and more complete comprehension. It appears to us to be 
a simple matter of impression, and we therefore fail to un- 
derstand that the development of ideas of form is really 
complex, and dependent on our previous training and prep- 
aration. 

The recognition of form is dependent on movement. It 
has already been incidentally mentioned that the combina- 
tion of sensations which enables us to recognize the forms of 
objects is brought about by means of movement. After we 
have made a detailed exploration by running our hands 
around the borders of objects, or by folding our hands over 
them, or running our eyes about the outline, we learn to rec- 
ognize familiar objects by the particular picture which we 
get from one particular view of them; but it is apparent from 
the way in which we learn to recognize new forms that this 
later stage is based upon an earlier one in which a study was 
made part by part by the use of movement. The value of 
movement in the study of form is well brought out in the pro- 
cess of learning to write. In his early reading the child may 
get a preliminary and rough idea of letters from looking at 
them. Even here he uses eye movement, but the movement 
is not so precise or detailed as when he is required to make 
a more minute examination for the purpose of writing. The 
act of guiding the pencil so as to produce the forms of the 
letters gives the child a much more minute and detailed rec- 
ognition of them than he has previously had. If an adult is 
asked to study a new form with a view to drawing it, he will 
commonly be seen to make a tracing of it in the air, while he 
is studying it, in order to reinforce the impression which he 
gets through his eyes, by the experience of hand movement. 

Form is usually studied for purposes of understanding 



BUILDING UP PERCEPTIONS 167 

and appreciation. We see illustrated in the development of 
the recognition of form a principle which is similar to that 
already mentioned in connection with sensory discrimina- 
tion. This principle is that the perfection of the ability in 
question is sought in the main with some purpose in mind 
which goes beyond the development of the activity itself. 
We do not ordinarily find persons going about comparing and 
studying various forms just for the purpose of comparing, 
classifying, and remembering forms by themselves. If we did 
find such a person we would be inclined to be suspicious of 
his intelligence. What we do find them doing is comparing the 
shapes of different leaves so as to get a clue as to the kinds of 
trees which they grow upon, or comparing the shape of the 
branches, the way they are joined to the trunk of the trees, 
etc. We find persons comparing the shapes of land forma- 
tions in order to trace them to their origin, and to learn how 
the forces of wind and rain and of the shrinking of the earth 
or the changes in the interior have produced the superficial 
forms upon the earth's surface. Or if we find a person who 
is apparently absorbed chiefly in the study of form for its own 
sake, we soon discover that it is not the form itself that he is 
interested in but rather its beauty or its ugliness. He is not 
interested in forms of all kinds but rather in the forms which 
are symmetrical and pleasing in appearance. The recogni- 
tion of form is largely incidental to the satisfaction of other 
motives. If we may apply this principle to the work of the 
school, we may say that the most effectual teaching of form 
to the child is that which he gets when he is trying to iden- 
tify objects, to represent them for purposes of record or of 
communication, or to discover beauty in them. 

The last type of perceptual learning is concerned with the 
recognition of the meaning of complex symbols. This proc- 
ess of the interpretation of the meaning of complex symbols 
is illustrated in a variety of forms of learning. It appears in 



168 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

learning a language, both oral and written, in learning to in- 
terpret the telegraphic language, and stenographic signs, in 
learning to read music, and in the understanding of mathe- 
matical symbols. In all of these cases the recognition of the 
elements is only a step in the completer recognition and 
interpretation of the complex object. In the case of those 
sorts of meaning in which vision is the sense employed the 
recognition of form is only a minor element. In all of thess 
forms of recognition the combination of the elements is a 
very important feature. In oral language, for example, the 
number of the separate, individual sounds is not great. The 
number of the possible combinations of these sounds, each of 
which has a definite meaning because it represents a word or 
a group of words, is enormous. The same, of course, is true 
of printed language. The elements and the combinations of 
these elements are represented in a similar fashion in mathe- 
matics. The separate digits each represent a definite num- 
ber, but they may be combined in an indefinite variety of 
ways. The learning process in this phase of perceptual learn- 
ing, then, does not consist merely in simple associations be- 
tween perceptual elements and ideas. It is rather the abil- 
ity to recognize the various combinations which may be 
formed, and the apprehension that certain meanings belong 
to groups of elements because of the manner in which they 
are combined. 

The combination of elements makes possible an increase 
in the range of attention. The number of objects which one 
can include in his attention span when these objects are 
not related to one another so as to form an organized group is 
rather small. It has been found by experiment to be about 
five to seven. When these objects are combined, as in the 
letters of a word, or in the grouping of dots into patterns, the 
range is greatly increased. One may be enabled to recognize 
accurately fifteen or twenty letters in a word or group of 



BUILDING UP PERCEPTIONS 1G9 

words, as compared with five or six letters which are not thus 
grouped. This effect of organization is much the same as 
was mentioned in connection with sensori-motor learning. It 
is well illustrated in the experiences of one who learns the 
telegraphic language. In the early stages he is able to re- 
ceive a message over the wire only as rapidly as he can rec- 
ognize the individual letters. As he becomes more expert, 
he begins to combine letters into words, and finally reaches 
the point where he does not pay attention to the individual 
letters but allows them to group themselves into words or 
phrases. Thus he enters upon the process of what is called 
reading behind. His attention at any moment is upon the 
material which came over the wire some seconds earlier. 
If he finds that a series of numbers is about to be given, 
which cannot be organized in the same way as letters, he 
finds it necessary to catch up in order to be able to appre- 
hend them. This increase of the range of attention through 
the arranging and organizing of the elements to which we 
pay attention is a very important condition of efficiency 
in learning. The improvement of one's span of attention for 
isolated objects is very limited, just as is the improvement 
in mere sensory discrimination. A much higher degree of 
improvement in the span of attention for organized elements, 
however, as in the case in reading, is possible, and necessary 
if we are to reach the higher levels of ability. 

Different degrees of grouping may form hierarchies in 
recognition. The significance of different degrees of group- 
ing of objects which are presented to sense, and the meaning 
of these different levels for progress in learning, was first 
pointed out by Bryan and Harter in their pioneer work in the 
study of the telegraphic language. These investigators dis- 
covered that, in the process of receiving a message over the 
wire, the progress in ability did not take place steadily, but 
that after considerable ability had been attained, there en- 



170 



HOW CHILDREN LEARN 



sued a period of little or no progress, which they termed a 
plateau. As a result of their study of the plateau they con- 
cluded that the earlier more rapid rise, shown in Figure 16, 
was due to the development of the recognition of the simpler 
elements, and that the plateau represented a period when the 
group recognition was being developed. The later rise came 




4 8 12 16 20 24 % 28 

Weeks of practice 

Fig. 16. Analysis of the Process of Receiving in Telegraphy into 
Receiving Separate Letters, Disconnected Words, and Con- 
nected Discourse 

(From Bryan and Harter's Psychological Review, vol. vi, by permission of the publishers.) 

when this group recognition was developed to such a point 
that it could be carried on with ease. Whether this is the 
only or the chief explanation of plateaus we shall consider 
in a moment, but that the development of these higher order 
habits, as they are termed by Bryan and Harter, is an 
important feature of learning cannot be doubted. 

Plateaus due to a separation of different orders of habits 
may not be necessary. There can be no doubt that this dis- 
tinction between the higher and lower order habits holds 
for many cases of learning, and that the separation of these 



BUILDING UP PERCEPTIONS 171 

different habits may result in a delay in learning which is 
indicated in the curve by the plateau. Later investigators, 
however, among them Swift and Book, have shown that 
such a plateau, while very frequent, is not absolutely nec- 
essary. They point out the fact, which was recognized by 
Bryan and Harter themselves, that the higher order habits 
begin to be formed in the early stages. They go further 
than this and assert that the development of these higher 
order habits can proceed sufficiently in the early stages so 
that it is not necessary that there should be a cessation in 
progress due to a separation of the lower and higher order 
habits. To substantiate this conclusion, curves of progress 
have been obtained in which no such plateau appears. 

Various causes may prevent progress to a higher stage. 
Plateaus may be also caused by other conditions than the 
imperfect automatization of the lower order habits. It fre- 
quently happens that the learner fails to progress beyond 
a certain point because he rests satisfied with his attainment 
at this point, and does not make sufficient effort to progress 
beyond it. The failure to make the effort may be due to lack 
of confidence that further progress is possible to him, to a 
lack of knowledge how to go on to a higher stage, or to mere 
laziness and unwillingness to make the attempt. In any 
case the learner fails to learn the higher habits or the more 
efficient ways of performing the task. An illustration may be 
taken from footing up columns. There are simple and primi- 
tive modes of adding, and there are more efficient and more 
complex ways. One may add one figure at a time, going 
through the process of naming the figures that are added 
and the sum which is reached ; or he may progress to a higher 
stage by merely naming to himself the sum and leaving out 
the naming of the numbers which are added; or he may pro- 
gress to a still higher stage by making several additions at 
once and then adding these. This stage is reached by devel- 



172 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

oping the ability to apprehend combinations of figures as a 
total sum, rather than as individual numbers to be added 
separately. A still higher stage, which would not be reached 
by the ordinary worker, is the ability to add two or more 
columns simultaneously. The probability is that very many 
book-keepers and other workers remain at a lower stage 
when it would be to their interest to progress beyond it. 

Plateaus may be caused by undue haste. Another rea- 
son for a delay in improvement is the attempt to hurry too 
much. In this case the learner unduly speeds up the lower 
order habits before the higher order habits have had time to 
form. Retardation in progress is caused by this undue haste, 
or injudicious spurting. When the activity is forced the 
whole habit is disorganized. If, in typewriting, one attempts 
to write more rapidly than his ability at the time warrants, 
he makes a large number of errors and becomes confused. 
He connects a letter with the wrong key and when he sees 
the letter again he has the impulse to press the wrong key 
instead of, or in addition to, the right one. This is what 
is meant by saying that the habit becomes disorganized. 

A plateau may be caused by the necessity of breaking up 
habits which are formed in the early stages. It is probable 
that if a person learns without expert instruction or guidance 
he will fall into methods of performance which are not the 
best from the point of view of the development of final 
skill. It may be that even under expert guidance one inevit- 
ably falls into habits which are the best possible while he 
possesses a moderate degree of attainment, but which are 
an impediment to the highest skill. In such cases it may 
be necessary to pause in the onward progress to break up 
these habits before further advance is possible. 

The development of the higher forms of recognition is 
usually dominated by certain active responses. As in the 
case of sensori-motor learning we found that there must 



BUILDING UP PERCEPTIONS 173 

always be a stimulus to which the response was made, so in 
perceptual learning we find that the stimulus is developed 
as a means to a response which may be remote or imme- 
diate. In some cases it is clear that the response itself has an 
active part to play in bringing together or organizing the 
elements of the recognition. This is brought out, for instance, 
in the study of reading. The elements which compose a 
word are not brought together simply because they belong 
together in our perception, but they go together because 
they represent a spoken word, and the spoken word is a unit 
of response. The difference between a collection of figures 
making a large number and a collection of letters making 
a word indicates this. If collections of figures were rep- 
resented by single spoken words there is no reason why they 
might not be recognized as easily as words themselves. But, 
as a matter of fact, the limit for the span of attention for 
figures is about the same as that for disconnected letters, 
and is about a third to a fourth of the span for words. The 
development of an organized recognition of a group of 
stimuli, then, will be promoted whenever we can find an 
appropriate response which corresponds to the organization 
of the elements presented to sense. 

The higher habit makes greater rapidity in the simpler 
acts possible. When the higher order habits are formed, the 
lower, simpler acts are performed more rapidly without 
causing confusion. A whole series of movements has become 
associated together so that the performance of one leads to 
the next without the necessity of thinking of it as a separate 
act. The series of movements is made as a response to one 
idea rather than to the recognition in detail of a series of 
separate stimuli. In handwriting the child at first learns to 
make each letter for itself by responding to each letter or 
stroke as a separate stimulus; but as his habit becomes 
organized he progresses to the higher stage in which the 



174 HOW CHILDREN LEAEN 

thought of the word sets in motion the whole train of move- 
ments by which it is written. 

A balance must be kept between the effort to advance and 
to perfect the simpler processes. While the caution against 
overhaste in the simpler habits, before the higher ones have 
been formed, is not opposed to the advice that the formation 
of the higher habits be not unduly delayed, the overem- 
phasis of either of these two rules is apt to lead to the neg- 
lect of the other. Unduly prolonged attention to the simpler 
habits, in the effort to avoid haste, leads to delay in forming 
the higher habits. Similarly, the effort to form the higher 
habits early will, if overdone, lead to overhaste in the simpler 
habits. Therefore a certain balance between the perfection 
of the lower habits and the progression to the higher habits 
must be maintained. 

Plateaus in learning a language may represent real but 
hidden progress. When the learning consists partly or 
wholly in acquiring information, or in learning facts, a 
plateau may be caused in still another way. In learning a 
foreign language part of the process consists in acquiring the 
meaning of the various words of the language, and part in 
gaining a familiarity with the sentence structure, inflec- 
tions of various parts of speech, etc. When one begins the 
study of a foreign language, he acquires the meaning of 
some of the more familiar words, and the ability to under- 
stand the sentence structure and some of the more common 
constructions. This acquisition produces a very rapid im- 
provement at the beginning. After he has gained familiarity 
with the more frequently recurring words and types of syn- 
tax, because he meets them frequently, the learner comes in 
contact with a large number of words and a certain number 
of grammatical forms which are of less frequent occur- 
rence. Progress then is slower and may even cease alto- 
gether for a time, so far as the score made in the perform- 



BUILDING UP PERCEPTIONS 175 

ance goes, because that which is learned in one period of 
study may not appear in the next one, and also because any 
one fact is not repeated frequently enough to be learned 
economically. After this larger number of new facts have 
recurred with sufficient frequency, practice upon them be- 
gins to tell on the score and rapid progress is again made. 

A knowledge of the meaning of plateaus may make it 
possible to avoid them or may prevent discouragement. 
Because of the difference in the kinds of plateaus or in the 
conditions which cause them, we cannot make general state- 
ments which will apply to them all. We cannot say that it 
is always possible to overcome plateaus, nor can we say on 
the other hand that they are always necessary. They are of 
very frequent occurrence in learning curves, and they fre- 
quently cause discouragement to the learner. A knowledge 
of the cause of the plateau, and of the fact that it is ¥ fre- 
quently not a sign of lack of progress, will help in acquiring 
a better attitude of mind toward it. The knowledge of the 
way in which plateaus are sometimes needlessly caused will 
also enable one in such a case to diagnose the difficulty 
and to overcome it. 

2. Development in perceptual learning with age 
Sensory discrimination does not develop greatly with age. 
The facts in regard to the development of sensory discrimi- 
nation with age are not entirely clear. In the case of pitch 
discrimination, some competent investigators, such as Sea- 
shore, hold that there is no important increase in the child's 
ability after early childhood. Others report large improve- 
ment with age. The development which is found by these 
other investigators may be due to the increasing ability of the 
child to adapt himself to the directions of the investigators, 
and to properly direct his attention to the task. If this de- 
velopment is allowed for, it seems that pitch discrimination 



176 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

develops to its full degree in early childhood. Discrimina- 
tion between weights appears from Gilbert's investigation 
to increase markedly with age, and this was included as one 
of the tests in the Binet-Simon series. The same explanation 
may perhaps be given for this development, however, as 
for the apparent development in pitch discrimination. 
Plausibility is furnished this explanation from the fact that 
in another sphere the child commonly does better than the 
adult. This is in the discrimination between two points on 
the skin. It is possible that this superiority is to be ac- 
counted for by the greater closeness of the nerve endings in 
the child's skin, and by the fact that his skin is softer than 
the adult's. But whatever the explanation the result indi- 
cates that discrimination is not one of the mental processes 
which develop greatly with age. This bears out the con- 
clusion which was arrived at earlier in the chapter that 
discrimination alone is not a very significant mental proc- 
ess. Ability to discriminate "between colors among chil- 
dren of ordinary training develops gradually up to the age 
of seventeen, but a good degree of color discrimination may 
be developed in young children. Auditory acuity also de- 
velops, but this may be due, in large measure, to the 
development of other structures in the ear than the 
neurons. 

The child's development in form recognition is dependent 
upon both inner growth and training. Soon after the child 
enters school he possesses the ability to apprehend and to 
reproduce very simple figures. There is little improvement 
during his school career in this simple type of recognition. 
The recognition of more complex forms, as shown by his abil- 
ity to draw, does develop greatly during his school life. 

During about the first two grades the child's drawing is 
a sort of symbolic sketch, representing some of the marked 
characteristics of the general class of objects to which the 



BUILDING UP PERCEPTIONS 177 

particular thing he is drawing belongs, but not the features 
of this individual thing. He gradually introduces these 
individual features until his drawing begins to look like what 
he is trying to draw. By the time he reaches the grammar 
grades all the parts of his drawing are copied directly from 
the object he is representing. Still, the drawing is only in sil- 
houette. No solidity is shown. If the child receives no train- 
ing, or if the training is poor, the child is not likely to ad- 
vance to the representation of perspective. Besides this, 
the fullness and accuracy of the drawings at the earlier stages 
depend on the quality of the instruction. While the child's 
recognition of form is undoubtedly advanced beyond his 
drawing ability, yet the advance in drawing does indicate 
an advance in recognition. 

The appreciation of beauty in form appears to depend 
still more largely upon age. Even young children, who can 
be trained to reproduce forms pretty faithfully by drawing, 
do not yet appear to develop the sense of beauty in form 
in the earlier years of their elementary-school life. One of 
the six-year-old tests in the Binet-Simon series requires the 
child to distinguish between pairs of faces, one of each being 
ugly and the other passably good looking. The typical five- 
year-old child does not recognize these very marked differ- 
ences in beauty. Form to the young child is a means of 
recognizing or expressing meaning but is not a means of 
gaining or of giving aesthetic satisfaction. 

The development of perception in reading may be almost 
fully completed in the primary grades. It would be incorrect 
to say that the child reaches the highest possible degree of 
development in reading in the early grades. The develop- 
ment in reading depends upon other elements than that of 
perception alone. The child may be retarded in his reading 
ability, not by his inability to recognize words, but by his 
inability to understand the meaning of these words. So far . 



178 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

as perception is concerned, however, we are dealing with the 
more mechanical phases of reading and not with the cor- 
responding thought processes. On account of the thought 
requirements of reading it will show progress as long as the 
person is developing intellectually. But the child in the 
third or fourth grade reaches nearly his full ability in the 
simple recognition of words. 

The facts which have just been presented would lead to 
the view that so far as many of the simpler features of sense 
perception are concerned the chief development takes place 
rather early. There is another aspect of the child's percep- 
tion which is rather later in its development and which we 
may call the control of his perceptions or observation. 

Observation and report show improvement throughout 
childhood. The ability of a child to direct his observation 
toward the significant features of a scene or a picture which 
is presented to him, and to report faithfully and accurately 
what he has observed, requires a control of his attention 
which goes beyond the recognition of simple forms, or single 
objects. There are two aspects of situations which children 
appear to observe about as well as adults. The first of these 
is action, and the second, number. They observe action as 
well as older persons because this is apparently what at- 
tracts their attention. They observe number as well as 
adults because adults are very poor themselves in observing 
this feature of their environment. In other respects there is 
a large increase in ability as the child grows older. The im- 
provement in the recognition of the color of objects, or of 
their position, is marked. The child's report of what he has 
observed becomes fuller as he grows older. The details 
which a young child does observe and report are also less 
connected and organized than those reported by the older 
person. The older child or the adult observes the meaning 
of the objects in a scene, while the younger child simply 



BUILDING UP PERCEPTIONS 179 

enumerates the objects. The development of the older child 
may be described as consisting in the control or the organi- 
zation of his perceptions, rather than in the development of 
the simpler processes themselves. 

The child exhibits a large amount of suggestibility. An- 
other aspect in which the child's defectiveness of control is 
shown is in his suggestibility, which has been reported on 
over and over again by different investigators. This feature 
of the child's mental life has already been commented on in 
the discussion of imitation. We may here add another illus- 
tration. One of the common means of investigating a child's 
ability of perception is the presentation of pictures, or of 
groups of objects on a card. A child may often be induced to 
report that he saw objects in a picture which were not there 
at all, by the appropriate type of questions. In the experi- 
ment by Binet a card was shown to the child on which was a 
button fastened to the card by means of glue. If the child 
is asked how the button is fastened, he will often say that it 
is held by means of thread, and if the matter is pursued he 
will describe the color or the size of the thread with a good 
deal of minuteness. The great danger which arises from 
this fact of the child's nature is, that the teacher may be- 
lieve that the child is getting intellectual training when he 
is not. To induce the child to give judgments on intellectual 
questions in a parrot-like fashion, which he has simply re- 
flected from the teacher, gives him no intellectual training 
whatever. Except in those cases in which the teacher is de- 
liberately attempting to build up a particular belief or sen- 
timent in the child's mind, it is necessary to be very much 
on guard against using leading questions, or influencing 
the child in the independent pursuit of his own judgment. 
The child, of course, requires great assistance in making his 
judgments. The material must be furnished him, and his 
attention must be called to particular aspects of the material. 



180 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

In this sense the teacher influences the formation of the 
child's judgment. But the goal of teaching should be the 
development of as great independence on the part of the 
child as possible; and both the child and the teacher should 
learn to recognize the difference between those cases in which 
he thinks for himself and those in which he copies the 
thought of another* 

Table II. Pitch Discrimination of 166 Children, Aged 
6-15 Years (Seashore) 



No. 


Limen in vibrations per second. 


20 


1 to 2 


63 


3 to 5 


48 


6 to 10 


21 


12 to 30 


14 


over 30 



There are large individual differences in all phases of 
perceptual ability. Differences of large degree have been 
found in studies of discrimination, in the development of 
the recognition of form, and in the more complex processes, 
which may be represented by the various phases of reading. 
Differences in discrimination may be represented by the 
results of the study of pitch discrimination. In Table II 
are shown the differences found by Seashore from a study 
of one hundred and sixty-six children. This table is to 
be read as follows: There were twenty children who were 
able to discriminate differences of pitch of one to two vibra- 
tions; sixty-three children could discriminate differences 
of from three to five vibrations; and there were fourteen 
children who could discriminate differences of over thirty 
vibrations. In some other forms of discrimination the differ- 
ences are not as extreme as this, but in all cases which have 
been investigated they are large enough to be important. 
In an experiment with a group of adults in learning. to draw 



BUILDING UP PERCEPTIONS 181 

a figure, which was composed of eight straight and curved 
lines in a somewhat complex arrangement, the slowest of 
the group required ten trials and the fastest only two trials 
to correctly draw the figure. These two are not isolated 
cases. The other individuals were scattered fairly uniformly 
between these two extremes. The distribution of sixty -five 
individuals according to the number of trials they re- 
quired is as follows: — 

Trials 2 3 4 5 678 9 10 

Individuals.. 4 10 17 11 11 5 1 3 3—65 

In Table III are shown the differences in the rate of read- 
ing, and in the ability to apprehend words seen in short ex- 
posure of a fraction of a second, among a group of adults. It 
will be seen that the slowest reader in this group took three 
times as long to read the same amount as the fastest, and 
that the average of the fastest five readers read over twice 
as rapidly as the average of the slowest five. In the other 
column, which represents the apprehension of letters or 
digits during brief exposure it appears that the individual 
with the narrowest range of attention apprehended less than 
half as many letters or digits in one exposure as the indi- 
vidual with the widest range. 

Training must adapt itself to these individual differences. 
Every investigation in which the differences between the in- 
dividuals are measured shows similar variations to these. 
Moreover, these differences cannot be ascribed in the main 
to differences of practice, because when a group of individ- 
uals is subjected to the same degree and amount of training 
it appears that the differences which exist between them at 
the start are fully as great after training as before. In some 
cases the aim of training should be to equalize these differ- 
ences, and in other cases to emphasize them by giving special 
training to the child who has the greatest ability. If the 







182 



HOW CHILDREN LEARN 



Table III. Typical Individual Differences among Adults 
in Rate of Reading and the Amount Apprehended 
During a Single Brief Exposure (Span of Attention) 





Rate of reading in 


Average number of digits or 




words per 


second 


letters recognized 


per exposure 


Individual 


Rate 


Individual 


Number 




1 


6.9 


1 


7.9 




2 


5.5 


2 


7.8 




3 


5.5 


3 


7.3 




4 


5.3 


4 


7.0 




5 


4.7 


5 


6.7 


Average of first 5 




5.6 


6 

7 


6.Q 
6.1 




6 


4.7 


8 


6.0 




7 


3.9 


9 


5.9 




8 


3.7 


10 


5.8 




9 


3.5 


11 


5.3 




10 


3.3 


12 


5.2 




11 


3.2 


13 


4.8 




12 


2.9 


14 


4.5 




13 


2.9 


15 


4.3 




14 


2.9 


16 


4.1 




15 


2.9 


17 


3.8 




16 


2.9 


18 
Average 


3.1 
5.7 




17 


2.8 








18 


2.7 








19 


2.7 








20 


2.7 








21 


2.2 






Average of last 5 




2.6 






Average of all 




3.7 







aim is to equalize them, training must be given in very differ- 
ent amounts to the different children. Those who possess 
a high degree of ability must be allowed to omit special 
training, and those who possess a low degree must have 



BUILDING UP PERCEPTIONS 183 

an unusual amount of training. When a child is weak in one 
phase of mental activity and strong in another he probably 
ought in most cases to be given more than the usual training 
in the ability in which he is weak. In the case of the young 
child, at least, it is not desirable to encourage a high degree 
of specialization. This may be more appropriate later on. 
Where a child is strong in all kinds of mental work he ought 
to be allowed to progress more rapidly than his slower fellows 
to the higher levels of learning. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. Find some other illustration of an illusion which shows that our per- 
ceptions are determined by something beside the simple sensory im- 
pression. 

2. What forms of discrimination are involved in the completest recog- 
nition of a lead pencil, an apple, a word? 

3. Could the child be given a high degree of training in sensory discrim- 
ination and still have a very narrow experience? Explain your answer. 

4. Compare the apparent weight of a piece of iron or lead and a much 
larger pasteboard box by lifting them. Add to the weight of the box 
until the two objects seem to be equal in weight. Then weigh the two 
and report and interpret your finding. 

5. Draw a figure which has a somewhat intricate system of lines and draw 
a star at one side. Show the figure to another person for twenty seconds 
asking him to look fixedly at the star during the whole time and after- 
wards draw it. Perform the same experiment with another person with- 
out requiring him to fixate the star. Interpret the results. 

6. Flash before another person a card on which are eight spots arranged 
irregularly and another on which are eight spots arranged in two regu- 
lar groups of four each. Interpret the results. 

7. Formulate a set of rules for dealing with plateaus. 

8. Why does the appreciation of beauty of form develop later than simple 
recognition of form? 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

Ayer, F. C. Psychology of Drawing. (Warwick and York, 191G.) 

Book, W. F. Psychology of Skill. (University of Montana Publications in 

Psychology.) 
Bryan, W. L., and Harter, N. "Studios in the Physiology and Psychology of 

the Telegraphic Language"; in Psychol. Rev., vol. G, pp. 345-75. (1899.) 



184 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

Gray, W. S. Studies of Elementary School Reading through Standardized Tests. 
(Supplementary Educational Monographs. University of Chicago Press, 
1917.) 

Hall, G. Stanley. "The Contents of Children's Minds upon Entering 
School"; in Ped. Sem., vol. 1, pp. 139-73. 

Huey, E. B. Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading. (Macmillan, 1908.) 

Judd, C. H., and Cowling, D. J. Perceptual Learning. (Monograph Supple- 
ment to Psychological Review, vol. 8.) 

Swift, E. J. Mind in the Making. (Chas. Scribner's Sons, 1908.) 

Whipple, G. M. Manual of Mental and Physical Tests. (Warwick and 
York, 1914.) 

Winch, W. H. Children's Perceptions. (Warwick and York, 1914.) 



CHAPTER X 

ASSOCIATION AND MEMORIZING 

1. Memory, perception, and habit contrasted 
Perception and memory both depend on past experience. 
In the description of those forms of learning which involve 
chiefly the development of perception, or of the better rec- 
ognition of the stimulus, we saw that the past experience 
is of great importance. In fact, the meaning which a per- 
son gives to the sensation that is produced by the stimu- 
lation of a sense organ by a physical object, exists only be- 
cause he has had previous experience with the object, or 
others similar to it. We saw, further, that the meaning 
which an object acquires in perception is not distinguished 
in the mind of the perceiver from the sensation which he 
gets from the object. Indeed, one is very often unable to dis- 
tinguish between the interpretation which he gives to the 
sensation and the sensation itself. In memory l we have 
also an example of the effect of past experience upon the ex- 
perience of the present; but, in this case, we are definitely 
conscious of the fact that part of our experience is derived 
from what we have experienced before. 

An illustration. In both immediate interpretation in per- 
ception, then, and in memory, our responses depend upon 
experiences which we have had in the past. An illustration 
will make clear the difference between these two modes of 

1 Memory, in the restricted sense, is living over again previous experiences 
and placing them more or less definitely in our past life. In the broader 
sense memory is the correct reproduction of previously formed associa- 
tions, whether they are associations between ideas, or between stimuli and 
movements. 



186 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

response. The animal is affected by past experience so far 
as his attitude toward objects is determined by the imme- 
diate interpretation which is characteristic of perception. 
A chick will learn to discriminate between an edible worm 
and one which is not edible, as a result of having experienced 
the bad taste of the one and the good taste of the other. A 
chick will at first peck at any sort of worm, but when it gets 
one which is distasteful, it rejects it. After one or more ex- 
periences of this sort, the tendency to peck at the distasteful 
worm is restrained. We may assume that in this case the 
worm acquires such a character to the chick that it imme- 
diately dislikes it on sight. It does not recall that it tasted 
the worm in the past and that it did not taste good, but 
rather has a disgust for the worm without realizing why it is 
disgusted. 

Contrast with this the case of the human being who has 
acquired a similar distaste for some article of food, due to 
the fact that this particular article has made him sick. The 
immediate attitude of disgust is the same in the two cases, 
but the human being is likely not only to reject the food, 
but also to ask himself the reason for his dislike. He may 
then recall the circumstance of eating the food and the 
resulting illness, and thus be able to explain his feeling 
attitude. The chick's experience is probably a matter of 
perception merely; the human's experience may include 
memory. 

A series of movements is designated memory when the 
movements represent ideas. The dependence of habit 
upon past experience is evident in the very definition, or the 
simplest description of a habit, since a habit is a mode of 
activity which is acquired and gradually perfected through 
the repetition of an act. Memory is sometimes used in a 
broad sense to include habits, as when we say we remem- 
ber how to skate or to swim. But in the narrower sense, in 



ASSOCIATION AND MEMORIZING 187 

which memory is distinguished from such sensori-motor 
forms of learning, we apply memory to an habitual chain of 
movements only when they represent a series of ideas, as 
in the case of repeating the alphabet or the multiplication 
table, or a poem. 

Memory distinguished from perception and habit. In 
brief, there are two forms of the survival of past experience, 
which are similar to memory in the fact that they are due 
to the more or less permanent results of experience in the 
formation of systems of connection among the neurones of the 
nervous system, — namely, perception and sensori-motor 
habit. With these are contrasted two other forms of survival 
of past experience, to which we give the name memory. The 
first form of memory is the revival of a previous experience, 
together with its location more or less definitely with refer- 
ence to other experiences which make up our notion of our 
past life, as when we remember our last year's vacation. 
The second form is the repetition of a series of associated 
ideas, together with the acts which correspond to them, in 
the order in which they have been previously learned, as 
when we repeat the list of the presidents of the United States 
in order. 

2. Memory and association 
Memory of the first type is a case of association. It will 
readily be seen from the illustrations used, that memory, 
which consists in the recognition and placing of past ex- 
perience, is based upon the recall of ideas which have been 
previously associated with the object or idea which is pre- 
sented to the mind, and which serves to explain or give mean- 
ing to the present experience. The meaning in this case does 
not, as in perception, seem to belong to the thing which is the 
object of our attention. It rather arises from the fact that 
the object calls up other ideas with which it has been con- 



188 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

nected previously. Memory of the first type may then be 
said to be a case of association 1 of ideas. 

Memory of the second type, or memorizing, is the forma- 
tion of associations so that they may be reproduced at a fu- 
ture time. Memory of the second type is obviously a case 
of association of ideas. It is concerning this type that the 
laws of efficient memorizing have been developed. When a 
student memorizes a poem, for example, he is making asso- 
ciations between the successive words of the poem, and also 
between the words and the ideas which are expressed by 
them. In a similar way, in learning a vocabulary he is form- 
ing associations between English words and their meanings 
and the corresponding foreign words. Memorizing thus 
means the formation of associations in such a way that at 
some future time when certain of the associated ideas are 
attended to, the others will be called up also. We call such 
mental processes memory, not because they recall to us the 
idea of a definite experience and of a time when we had this 
experience in our past life, but rather because they repro- 
duce in our present experience something which is very 
similar to that which we have experienced previously. 

The associations of memory differ from other associations 
in the fact that a standard of correctness is applied to them. 
We may get further insight into this type of memory by com- 
paring the nature of the association which is involved in it 
with other sorts of association. When an idea occurs to our 
mind, it may call up a variety of other ideas, and from the 
point of view merely of association they may be all equally 
appropriate. The idea "house," for example, may have as- 
sociated with it, and may therefore call to mind, ideas of 
other kinds of building, or ideas of different kinds of houses, 

1 Association is the process by which one idea calls up another. Ideas 
may be associated because they have been associated in the past, or be- 
cause they have some logical relation. 



ASSOCIATION AND MEMORIZING 189 

or of the contents of a house, or of the people who dwell in 
houses, and so on. These would all be equally cases of asso- 
ciation; but if our purpose is to recall a particular association 
which has been previously formed, as for example, "The 
house that Jack built," we bring to bear on this association 
a form of judgment which we have not brought to bear on 
the others. We then raise the question whether the particular 
association which has occurred to us is one which has been 
formed with this word in the past, and which it is our pur- 
pose to bring up again. We bring to bear upon the associa- 
tion in this case the question of its correctness or incorrect- 
ness, according as it corresponds or does not correspond with 
a particular previously formed association. This, then, is 
the type of association to which we refer under the term 
memorizing. Memorizing consists in forming associations, 
so that at some later time we may reproduce the same ideas 
in the same sequence in which they originally existed. 

Association is also the means of recall. To call memoriz- 
ing the formation of associations throws light also upon 
another matter, namely, the means by which we are able to 
recall what has been memorized. Just as memorizing con- 
sists in the formation of associations, so recall consists in the 
reproduction of an idea through its association with another. 
A typical case of recall is illustrated when we are thinking of 
a person's face and attempt to recall his name. In this case 
we attempt to reproduce the association between the face 
and the name, which has been previously formed in our 
mind. In the same way when we attempt to recall a poem, 
having in mind the title, we attempt to associate the first 
line, and the second line, and so on in order, with the title; 
or we have in mind certain phrases in the poem, or certain 
of the ideas which are expressed in it, and we attempt to 
associate with these the words in their correct order. 

Most apparent exceptions are not genuine. It may some- 



190 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

times seem that ideas are recalled to mind independently of 
this process of association. Ideas sometimes seem to pop 
into the mind; but the usual explanation of such cases is that 
the association is not noticed by us. We find a tune running 
in our head, and do not know what caused the appearance 
of the tune. The cause has merely escaped our notice, as 
may be shown by a simple experiment. We may start a 
person humming a tune by ourselves humming or whistling 
it, although the subject of the experiment himself is not 
aware of the cause of his own action. 

This fact that recall is a matter of association has impor- 
tant practical bearings. Since recall is based upon association 
it is dependent upon the formation of the appropriate asso- 
ciation in the first place; and it is necessary, in order that 
recall may be accurate and ready, that the association be 
properly formed. This principle means further, that, in at- 
tempting to recall anything, the method to pursue is not to 
try to force the idea into the mind blindly, so to speak, or to 
try in a random manner to bring up the idea; the better 
method is to call to mind the ideas which we know to have 
been associated with the one which we wish to recall, and 
then to allow the idea in question to be brought up by 
means of these associations. 

3. Memorizing: Efficiency in the formation of associations 
The main question which we have to face with regard to 
memorizing, is concerned with the most effective way in 
which associations may be built up, so that they can be 
recalled at some time in the future in an efficient manner. 

Association may be arbitrary or logical. We can best in- 
troduce our discussion of the laws of efficient memorizing 
by distinguishing between two kinds of association. On the 
one hand, we may form an association between ideas in a 
purely arbitrary manner. In this case we do not recognize 



ASSOCIATION AND MEMORIZING 191 

any similarity or other rational connection between the 
ideas. Take the case of the telephone number which is as- 
sociated with a person's name. There is no rational con- 
nection between the number and the name of the person 
who possesses it. They are associated merely because they 
have been frequently named, or heard, or thought of to- 
gether. On the other hand, there are other ideas which seem 
to belong together, and which we speak of as logically re- 
lated. When ideas are related in this manner we call the 
association a logical association, and the formation of such an 
association we speak of as logical memorizing. Thus when 
we memorize a piece of prose or poetry, the words follow one 
another, not in a purely arbitrary way, but because they ex- 
press a series of thoughts. The successive words are sug- 
gested, not merely because they have previously existed to- 
gether in our minds, but because they also express thoughts 
which follow one another naturally. We may distinguish, 
then, between logical memory and rote memory, by saying 
that, in logical memory, the associations which are formed 
fit into a group of associations which have been previously 
formed, and which constitute a system of thought. This 
fact gives them a meaning. In the case of rote memory, on 
the other hand, we have to form the associations between 
the things which are presented, without making a connec- 
tion between them and a larger system of thought. 1 As an 
example, we may compare the process of memorizing such a 
sentence as, "The country went democratic by a small ma- 
jority," with the process of memorizing the following series 
of nonsense syllables: neb, siv, dof, rin, sog, tuz, muv, gaj, 
fid, kel, bip, cag. In the one case we may memorize the 
sentence which expresses a coherent meaning by a single 

1 Logical memory is the association of words, facts, events, etc., which 
are so connected in meaning that the relation is recognized. Rote memory 
is association which has little or no meaning. 



192 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

repetition, whereas it would probably require ten or more 
repetitions to memorize the nonsense syllables. 

The same fact or event may often be associated in either 
manner. This distinction between logical and rote memory is 
not, however, a perfectly sharp one. There are intermediate 
cases between memorizing in which the associations are with- 
out meaning, and those in which the meaning is at the maxi- 
mum. Furthermore, the same piece may be memorized by 
one person by means of logical memorizing, whereas to an- 
other person the association may be of the purely arbitrary 
kind. A date may be memorized without connecting the date 
with others, or without connecting the events which corre- 
spond to the date with other previous and succeeding events. 
In this case one merely makes a mechanical and arbitrary 
association and fixes it by means of many repetitions. The 
person who has some knowledge of history, however, may be 
assisted in making the association by recalling the period 
in which the event took place, and the general location of 
the period in time, — such as the century or part of the cen- 
tury in which it occurred. By this means he will have nar- 
rowed down the possible choice of dates to a fairly small 
number. If he is thus able to determine in what century 
the event occurred he has determined the first two figures of 
the date, assuming that the number is in the thousands; and 
if further he can locate it in its decade, he has determined the 
first three figures. It is then very much easier to supply the 
last one or two missing figures than it would be to supply all 
four of them. 

The more the associations possess a logical character the 
fewer repetitions will be required to fix them. This illus- 
tration suggests the difference between the mode of learning 
when the associations are of the logical sort and when they 
are of the arbitrary sort. The more the memorizing has the 
character of rote learning, the more it must be accomplished 



ASSOCIATION AND MEMORIZING 193 

through mere repetition. The more logical it becomes, on 
the other hand, or the more associations the learner is able 
to make with the things which are to be memorized, the less 
the necessity for a large number of repetitions. At one 
extreme of logical memory is the case in which the material 
is learned by a single perusal. At the other extreme is the 
memorizing of nonsense syllables, or of a series of meaning- 
less numbers, in which it is necessary to make a large num- 
ber of repetitions. Here again the distinction is not a sharp 
one, because even in logical memorizing it may be necessary 
to repeat the material several times before it is sufficiently 
well learned to be reproduced. There are usually certain ele- 
ments of the material that are arbitrary. The ideas of a poem 
or a prose selection might be expressed in several ways, or the 
various ideas which are expressed might come in one order 
or another, so that the memorization is to some extent ar- 
bitrary. In general, however, the more one can find meaning 
in what is being memorized, the fewer will be the repetitions 
necessary. 

4-. Rules for memorizing 
First rule : Get the meaning clearly in mind. The distinc- 
tion just mentioned leads to the first practical rule which may 
be laid down for memorizing: namely, so far as possible, work 
out clearly the meaning of the material which is to be mem- 
orized. Facility in memorizing depends in large measure 
upon the extent to which the learner is able to find systems 
of associations into which the ideas that are being memo- 
rized can be fitted. The illustration of various methods of 
learning dates is an example of this principle. Another 
example may be taken from memorizing the words of a con- 
nected piece. In such memorizing, one may go about the 
work in a very mechanical way. He may repeat the words 
over and over again and try merely to learn them so that 



194 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

they can be repeated without much thought of the meaning 
which they express. This is the method which the child is 
likely to pursue unless he is directed to a better one. It is the 
purely verbal method of memorizing. A better method is to 
first read over the piece and get as clear an idea as possible 
of the leading and subordinate thoughts which together 
make up the meaning of the piece. One should then give 
attention to the logical order of the thoughts or the order of 
development of the main thought. After this has been done, 
the main parts of what is to be memorized will fall into their 
proper order without much difficulty, and the remainder 
consists chiefly in associating the particular words and sen- 
tences with one another. We shall discuss the methods more 
in detail when we come to the question of the relative value 
of the whole and part method of memorizing. 

Second rule : Make as many repetitions as are necessary 
to fix the arbitrary associations. However much attention 
we may give to the thought of the piece which is to be memo- 
rized, there will still remain the necessity for some mechani- 
cal association or of some arbitrary or rote memory, as has 
already been said. For most persons this will necessitate, 
even in the case of logical memory, more than one reading 
or recital before the piece is learned. With some persons, 
it is true, who have a very high degree of skill in verbal mem- 
ory, one reading of a fairly long poem will suffice to fix it in 
mind; but this simply means that such persons have a high 
degree of ability in rote memory, and not that rote memory 
is not present in such cases. A second rule may accordingly 
be stated thus : When memorizing is intended to be verbally 
accurate a number of repetitions are necessary. Even in 
logical memory repetition is usually an essential feature 
of the learning process; and of course the more the memo- 
rizing is of the arbitrary sort, the more this is true. The 
next question is concerned with the best way of making the 



ASSOCIATION AND MEMORIZING 195 

repetitions, in order that we may remember with the least 
amount of effort and the greatest amount of permanence 
and accuracy. 

Third rule : Continue the repetitions beyond the thresh- 
old. One principle which may be mentioned first regarding 
repetitions in memorizing, is that they ought to be car- 
ried beyond the point at which the learner can repeat the 
piece immediately. Put in technical terms the rule is: 
For permanent memorizing, carry the learning beyond the 
threshold of immediate reproduction. The reason for this 
principle is that a person's memory does not permanently 
remain at the degree of perfection which is reached at the 
time of memorizing. What has been memorized always fades 
from the mind to a greater or less extent. The amount which 
is forgotten in each unit of time is greater soon after the mem- 
orizing has been completed than it is later. Figures 17 and 
18 may be taken to represent what may be called the curve 
of forgetting, or the amount which remains in the memory 
at various intervals after memorizing has been completed. 
The extent to which learning should be carried beyond the 
threshold will depend on the purpose with which the memo- 
rizing is carried on. If the material is intended to be ready 
to hand at a distant future time it must be carried very far 
beyond the threshold of immediate reproduction. 

Fourth rule: Distribute the repetitions. To carry the 
repetition sufficiently beyond the threshold so that the piece 
memorized may be instantly recalled at a distant future time, 
is a wasteful process if the learning is done all at one period. 
It is necessary in this case to make a very large number of 
repetitions, in addition to those which are necessary to enable 
one to repeat immediately what is being learned. A much 
more economical method is to continue the repetitions a 
sufficient number of times to make it possible to reproduce 
the piece immediately, if it is short, or if it is long, to carry 



196 



HOW CHILDREN LEARN 



the learning only part way to the threshold of immediate 
reproduction, and then to go over the material again at a 
later period. This distribution of the repetitions over several 
periods of study may be carried, under proper circumstances, 
to a considerable length. The number of periods which it 



100 



1 



60 —J 

c 

e 

■3 60 H 



40 — 



o 20 — 



12 6 14 20 

Interval between learning and relearning: in days. 



30 



Fig. 17. The Curve of Forgetting for Nonsense Series learned 
to the Point of One Successful Reproduction, in the Case of 
Ebbinghaus 

(From E. L. Thorndike's Educational Psychology, vol. n, by permission of Teachers Col- 
lege, Columbia University.) 



is desirable to use in memorizing any particular subject 
matter will depend upon the length of the piece and its dif- 
ficulty, and upon the age or ability of the learner, and so on. 
The principle is sufficiently general, however, to warrant 
the following rule: To secure economy in the number of 
repetitions distribute them over several periods. 

The degree of distribution varies with circumstances. 
How far we may profitably go in distributing the periods of 
study has not been determined in detail for all circumstances. 



ASSOCIATION AND MEMORIZING 



197 



As has been said, the length of the periods of study which are 
most economical will depend on the length and difficulty of 
the material, and on the age and ability of the learner. For 
young children, the periods of study can be reduced ad- 
vantageously to rather short ones, perhaps ten minutes. The 




10 20 

Interval between learning and relearning: in days. 



30 



Fig. 18. The Curve of Forgetting for Nonsense Series learned 
to the Point of Two Successful Repetitions as reported by 
Radossawljewitsch 

(From E. L. Thorndike's Educational Psyclwlogy, vol. u, by permission of Teachers Col- 
lege, Columbia University.) 



more the memorizing is of the character of rote learning the 
more advantageous it is to shorten the periods. When mem- 
orizing is logical in nature, on the other hand, a longer period 
may be advantageously used, due to the fact that with a 
longer period one is better able to get the course of the 
thought as a whole. 

Too concentrated learning hinders progress through fa- 
tigue. This principle, that it is more economical to distribute 
learning throughout several periods rather than to concen- 



198 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

trate it all into one period, is found to hold in other forms of 
learning besides memorizing. At least a partial explanation 
of this principle may be found in the fact that the longer one 
works the slower the progress becomes, if the work is all 
carried on in a single period. The point beyond which one 
ceases to make progress, of course, varies with individuals 
and with the kind of work, but with small children, this 
point comes rather soon. Therefore if the learning is con- 
centrated the latter part of the period does not produce as 
much effect as does the earlier part. 

Old associations are most permanent. The distribution 
of repetitions also results in the more permanent retention 
of what has been learned as a consequence of another prin- 
ciple, which may be stated thus: The longer an association 
has been kept above the threshold, — that is, freshly in 
mind, — the more permanent it becomes. A clear illustration 
of the difference between associations which have been kept 
fresh for some time and those which have been recently 
formed is furnished by a comparison of those students who 
keep their work up during a whole course of study with 
those who cram up for examination at the end. Those who 
keep their work up retain a good share of what they have 
learned after the course is over, while the crammers speedily 
forget their recently acquired knowledge. There may be some 
subjects on which we wish to acquire information for a par- 
ticular occasion and then forget it, but this cannot be true 
of the more fundamental part of the work of the school. 
We shall see in a later part of the chapter that this principle 
partly explains the apparently better memory of children 
than of adults. 

The intention to remember facilitates learning. The 
most efficient learning of which a person is capable is not 
guaranteed merely by the proper arrangement of the out- 
ward conditions of the work. Very much will depend on the 



ASSOCIATION AND MEMORIZING 199 

attitude of mind of the learner. If he goes over the material 
in a lackadaisical way, without paying very strict attention 
to what he is doing, and without the intention to remember 
what he is reading over or listening to, the repetitions will 
have very little effect. Even those who have experimented 
with memorizing, and who are to be considered as possess- 
ing an average degree of ability, have sometimes found that 
they did not remember series of words which they had re- 
peated to their subjects a number of times, although the 
repetitions were sufficiently numerous to enable three or 
four persons in succession to memorize them. The differ- 
ence in the result must be ascribed to a difference in 
purpose. 

Fifth rule: Attempt to recall during learning. In order 
that this intention to remember may be prominent in the 
mind of the learner it is well to form the habit of stopping 
occasionally to see how much can be remembered of what is 
being studied. This practice will keep the learner in the 
proper attitude of mind, so that the repetitions which he 
makes will result in his being able to reproduce as soon as is 
possible. We may assume, perhaps, that the continued rep- 
etitions will make impressions of some sort on one's nerv- 
ous system, but they may not take the sort of impression 
which can be turned to account in intentionally recalling 
the facts which are gone over. In order that the facts may 
be at the call of the learner, or in order that he may be 
able to reproduce them when he desires to do so, it is neces- 
sary that he make the repetitions in the first place with this 
purpose in mind; and, as has been suggested, the effort to 
recall during intervals of the learning will serve to maintain 
this attitude. We may accordingly establish this rule : Pause 
occasionally during the learning to attempt to recall what 
has been gone over. 

Sixth rule : Make the first perusal with especial care. Of 



200 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

the various repetitions which are made in learning, the first 
one is by all odds the most important. It is often very difficult 
to overcome a wrong impression which was gained in the first 
perusal. This is a matter of common observation as well as 
a fact which has been established by experiment. If the first 
repetition is made in a careless and superficial way, the 
others have very much less effect than if the first impression 
is made carefully. It is particularly desirable that the first 
repetition be made with the attempt to get the meaning so 
far as possible of what is about to be memorized, and to get 
the meaning correctly. The fact seems to be that those 
parts of any piece which a person neglects on his first read- 
ing, he tends to overlook in his successive readings, so that 
if one has studied a book carelessly and without forming cor- 
rect notions of its meaning, it becomes more difficult for him 
in the future to apprehend its meaning accurately than it 
would be to take up in the same way an entirely new book. 
There are two plausible explanations of this fact of obser- 
vation. In the first place a superficial reading gives many 
false interpretations of the meaning of the piece, and these 
false interpretations are likely to persist in spite of later 
more careful readings. This is in accordance with the prin- 
ciple of apperception, that an interpretation of any matter 
of experience is greatly influenced by our preconceptions. 
In the second place, the first reading takes the keen edge 
off our curiosity and it is more difficult afterwards to give 
close attention than when the interest was at its height. 
From these facts we deduce the rule: Give close attention 
and try to gain an accurate interpretation of the thought 
at the first perusal. 

Seventh rule: Avoid false associations. Partly as bear- 
ing on the value and importance of first impressions, and 
partly as it is related to succeeding impressions, another 
principle is of considerable importance. This principle is 



ASSOCIATION AND MEMORIZING 201 

that false associations should be avoided so far as possible. 
The bearing of this principle is frequently seen in common 
experience. If we are attempting to recollect a person's name 
and a wrong name comes to our mind, we find it much more 
difficult than it would otherwise have been to recall the cor- 
rect one. When we attempt to recall the name our mind is 
diverted to this wrong association. Other examples are found 
in learning to speak, which is one form of memorizing. If a 
person has formed the habit of spelling a word wrong he not 
only continues to spell the word wrong unless his attention 
is particularly directed to his error, but he fails to notice the 
difference between his own spelling and the correct spelling 
when he meets it in his reading. The reason for the lack of 
economy from forming wrong associations, then, is that it 
is necessary in such cases, not merely to form the correct 
association, but in addition to this, to break the wrong ones 
which have been formed. It frequently requires greater 
effort to break up a wrong association than it would have 
cost to form the correct one in the first place. Whence the 
rule: Carefully avoid false associations. 

Eighth rule: Learn under some pressure. Although 
learning should be careful and fairly deliberate, particularly 
at the first, it must not be carried on too slowly. We must 
distinguish between undue haste which is accompanied by 
carelessness and which is likely to produce a large number of 
errors, and such a degree of effort or pressure as will make 
the whole process more effective. Some degree of pressure, 
some urgency or effort in learning, will make the learning 
more rapid and the results more permanent. Repetitions 
which are made when the mind is not fully alive, or when it 
is not accompanied by any feeling of urgency or of desire to 
learn, are apt not to be economical. There is, of course, a 
rightly applied effort, and a wrongly applied effort. When 
the effort is merely the attempt to spur one's self on, it 



202 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

may not succeed. It may rather defeat its own end. Just 
what the conditions are which make effort fruitful or un- 
fruitful we shall discuss more particularly in the chapter 
on mental economy, but we may say for the present : Learn 
under some pressure. 

5. The whole and part methods 
In memorizing extended pieces, two general methods have 
been distinguished. We may either repeat the whole piece 
and attempt to learn it as a whole gradually, or we may 
repeat small parts at a time, and try to learn it thoroughly 
as we go along. The two methods are called the whole and 
the part methods. 

The whole method is, in general, the better. Although the 
part method is the one most commonly used, experiments 
seem to indicate that the whole method enables one to 
memorize with the least waste of time and energy. There are 
of course qualifications in regard to the kind of piece, and 
so on, but it is usually better to read over the whole piece 
and then continue to study it as a whole, rather than to 
study it piecemeal. 

The whole method avoids false associations and makes 
associations with the thought easier. The reason for the 
superiority of the whole method in general seems to be that 
when one uses this method there are no associations formed 
which are unnecessary and which have to be overcome. In 
learning by the part method, the last words of a part are 
associated with the beginning of the same part instead of the 
following one. As a result, when one comes to the end of the 
stanza it often calls up the beginning of the same stanza 
and one is unable to proceed. This is in fact an experience 
which is common. In the second place, the whole method 
has an advantage, not only because the associations are 
formed between each part and the parts preceding and fol- 



ASSOCIATION AND MEMORIZING 203 

lowing, but because associations are also formed between 
each part and the thought of the whole piece. Because of 
this fact learning by the whole method has more the char- 
acter of logical memorizing than has learning by the part 
method, and in accordance with this fact it has been found 
to be more permanent in effect. 

Extra time must be given to difficult parts. In the appli- 
cation of the whole method thereare certain difficulties 
which must be met. It is found that before a piece is learned 
completely, certain parts prove to be more difficult than 
other parts. The easier parts may be learned long before the 
harder parts. It is therefore a waste of time to go over the 
parts already learned in order to learn the others. We must 
accordingly modify the method by permitting a more pro- 
longed study of the more difficult parts as soon as it has 
been determined what these parts are. 

In the application of the whole method the length of the 
piece and its general difficulty, as well as the age and memory 
capacity of the learner, must be considered. The great diffi- 
culty with the whole method is that the learner feels it to be 
a formidable task to learn in this way. He does not appear 
to make progress in the earlier repetitions. He therefore 
tends to lose confidence in his ability to memorize, and, as 
we shall see in the later chapter on learning, confidence is one 
of the most important conditions for economical learning. 
If the piece is long, then, it should be broken up into sec- 
tions which are long enough to represent a fairly large divi- 
sion of thought, but which are not long enough to prevent 
the learner from seeing any evidence of his progress. In the 
case of young children, and of those who learn with diffi- 
culty, the divisions should be smaller than in the case of 
adults or of rapid learners. Difficult material should be 
broken up into smaller divisions than easy material. But 
keeping these qualifications in mind it is safe to say that 



204 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

most persons can with advantage learn by larger divisions 
than they would choose spontaneously. 

The part method may be better for some individuals. 
There may also be another qualification with reference to the 
superiority of the whole method, based upon the individual- 
ity of the learner. Experiments with large classes of adults 
indicate that without special practice in the whole method 
there are some who seem to do better with the part method, 
although the average of the whole class is in favor of the 
whole method. If this should prove to be true after the whole 
method has been practiced longer, and if it should prove 
to be true with children, it would be necessary to make 
allowances for this fact in directing the learning of the in- 
dividual child. It is possible that there are differences in the 
way in which different persons memorize to the greatest 
advantage. This principle of method, like all others, must be 
applied with due regard for the capacity and the individual 
type of ability of each person. 

Summary on the whole and part methods. We may 
apply the principles concerning the whole and part methods 
in a series of rules : ■ — 

1. First get a clear idea of the thought of the whole piece 
and then divide it into fairly large divisions, making the 
divisions correspond to the natural divisions of the thought. 
If the piece is short it will not need to be divided at all. 

2. The length of a piece which may be learned as a whole, 
or the length of divisions, depends on the difficulty of the 
piece, the age of the learner and the individuality of the 
learner. There is not yet sufficient evidence upon which 
to base a more specific rule regarding length. 

3. When the easier parts of a division have been learned, 
extra repetitions should be devoted to the more difficult parts. 

4. Especial attention should be given to the connections 
between divisions. 



ASSOCIATION AND MEMORIZING 205 

6. Individual and age differences 
Whatever may be the case in regard to individual differ- 
ences with reference to the preferred method of learning, it 
is certainly true that different persons vary in their memory 
ability. The variation is wide and concerns both the speed 
with which different persons can memorize for immediate 
reproduction, and the percentage of the material which can 
be reproduced at a later time. The difference in the rate at 
which different persons can memorize the same material 
is very large. Out of a class of persons who do not differ so 
widely in general ability as do the pupils of most large classes, 
some can memorize the same material three times as rapidly 
as can others. Furthermore, if the learners are required to 
memorize again what they memorized previously, it will take 
some a correspondingly larger amount of time in the relearn- 
ing. We may illustrate these differences by two cases from 
a class of nineteen adults. One of the class memorized a poem 
at the rate of 28.5 lines per hour and relearned it at a later 
time at the rate of 101 lines per hour. Another individual 
memorized the same poem at the rate of 79.5 lines per hour 
and relearned at the rate of 336 lines per hour. 

Rapidity of learning and permanence may or may not cor- 
respond. It is not true that the rapid learner always remem- 
bers the most of what he learns, or vice versa. Some memo- 
rize quickly and retain a large percentage, — perhaps eighty 
or more per cent of what they memorize. Others take a com- 
paratively long time to learn, and retain a small percentage, 
say thirty. On the other hand, some slow learners retain 
a large amount, and some fast learners retain a small 
amount ; and in addition there is an intermediate group com- 
posed of those who learn with moderate rapidity and re- 
tain a moderate amount. 

Rapid learning is as likely to go with unusual permanence 



206 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

as the reverse. This runs counter to the traditional view- 
to which we have been accustomed, which is that slow learn- 
ers remember accurately and for a long time, while fast learn- 
ers are superficial. If there is any general relationship, it is 
rather that the faster learner retains better; but there seems 
to be little connection between speed and retention, if one 
compares the ability of different persons. These facts must 
be considered in regulating the different tasks which we set 
to different children, and the demands which we make of 
them. We should have some fairly definite notion of the 
amount which a particular child can learn and should avoid 
making an undue demand on the slow child on the one hand, 
or giving insufficient tasks to the fast learner on the other. 
An individual's memory can be improved. While it is true 
that persons differ in their ability to memorize, we must 
not conclude that a particular person's ability may not be 
modified by training. Training, it is true, will not make all 
persons alike; but a large amount of training may increase 
the ability of one who is particularly deficient in this kind 
of mental work. We know little as yet about the amount of 
training which w r ould be necessary to raise the ability of the 
poor memorizer up to the level of the person of average 
ability in memorizing. We cannot assume that the same 
amount of drill will produce the same degree of ability in 
different children. What we do know is that at least a ma- 
jority of persons are capable of improvement in their mem- 
orizing ability. The facts which will enable us to suit memory 
drill to the need and capacity of each individual will have to 
be determined more completely by future experimentation, 

7. Change with age in association and memory 
The child's spontaneous associations are restricted. One 
of the tests of the Binet-Simon series throws light on the 
range and spontaneity of the child's associations which is 



ASSOCIATION AND MEMORIZING 207 

rather surprising. In this test the child is asked to give all 
the words he can think of, and he is given a time limit of 
three minutes. From our observation of the child's constant 
activity, and the freedom of his imaginative life, we might 
expect that he would excel in such a performance as this. 
But the fact is quite the reverse. After a short spurt at the 
beginning the child's responses begin to run down. He gets 
fresh starts by naming the objects he sees about him, but 
at each lower age the responses are slower than at the ages 
above. The same poverty in free association is met with in 
a test in which the child is given a word and is asked to give 
the first word he thinks of. Frequently the word that the 
child gives has no relation to the one he hears, or the relation 
is one of sound rather than of meaning. 

The child's experiences are limited and unorganized. The 
poorness of the child's free association illustrates the remark 
which is often made concerning freedom in general — that 
it is not absence of restriction, but the possession of trained 
ability to act. The child does possess a certain spontaneity, 
but the exercise of this spontaneity depends, for one thing, 
upon those experiences with things and persons which fur- 
nish him with ideas. He can never create an idea out of whole 
cloth. The child who has the most experiences, other things 
being equal, will have the greatest freedom of thought and 
action because he has the materials out of which thought 
and action can be built. But it is possible for a child to be 
overwhelmed with mere experiences. The manner in which 
the more mature person succeeds in the free association test 
is instructive. The more successful he is, the more likely he 
is to give words which exhibit trains of associations. His 
ideas are grouped or organized, so that, for example, one 
animal will suggest other animals, one food other foods or 
one building other buildings. Thus when he gets an idea 
he has really tapped the course of a whole series of ideas. 



208 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

The process of organization of experiences is as important 
in education as is the processes of getting experiences. 

The child is also deficient in the control of associations. 
The deficiency of the child in following trains of associations 
is one illustration of the poorness of his control over the con- 
nections of his ideas. His lack of control is also brought out 
by another kind of examination. We may ask the child to 
give, not any word which comes into his mind, but one of 
some specified sort — as the opposite of a given word, one 
that is related by cause and effect, or one which designates a 
part of which the given word designates the whole, or the 
reverse. For instance, the child may be asked to tell the 
opposite of high, or to name an effect of the cause designated 
by cold, or to name a part when house is given to designate 
the whole. The child can meet these tests, but he can suc- 
ceed in more and more difficult examples as he grows older. 
This progress is undoubtedly due in part to the child's 
increasing experience, which makes him better acquainted 
with the individual ideas. It may safely be assumed, how- 
ever, that part of the growth consists in the better control 
or management of ideas so that their relations are more 
clearly recognized. The control of associated ideas is a very 
important phase of reasoning, and its development affects 
growth in reasoning, as we shall see in the consideration of 
that subject. 

Memory improves with age up to maturity. The develop- 
ment of the ability to make permanent associations, which 
we call memorizing, also grows with age. We have been 
accustomed to think that the younger child can memorize 
better than the adult, and that there is a particular stage 
of development when he can memorize better than he can 
before or after. Experimentation shows that for certain 
kinds of memorizing at least, both of these beliefs are er- 
roneous. When we test the ability of the child to learn 



ASSOCIATION AND MEMORIZING 209 

nonsense syllables, or to learn voluntarily a piece which has 
been set for him, we find that his ability increases with age rap- 
idly up to about fourteen or fifteen and more slowly from 
then on, but that the adult is superior to the child of any age. 

The child's apparent preference for memorizing may not 
be real. There may be several reasons for the discrepancy 
between the results of experiments and the common belief 
of teachers and others who have to do with children. One 
reason probably is that children do not avoid memorizing 
as adults do. This seems to be the method which the child 
takes to spontaneously when he is required to learn. Prob- 
ably this is not because he likes memorizing much better 
than does the older person so much as it is to the fact that he 
has not yet learned to use other methods of study. Children 
may perhaps often have a dislike for the mechanical, rote 
sort of learning, but this dislike may not be brought to our 
notice because they take it as a matter of course that they 
are required to do their learning in this way. The adult, 
when he is left to his own devices, turns away from this 
rather tedious method, and takes up the more convenient 
and comfortable method of learning by grasping the ideas 
of what is being studied. 

The child makes many repetitions. Another reason that 
the child seems to learn with more facility than the adult 
is that in many cases he employs a great number of repeti- 
tions in learning a story or a poem. We do not realize the 
number of repetitions which he experiences in listening to 
the recital of the piece. We therefore underestimate the 
length of time or the number of repetitions which it has re- 
quired for him to learn it. If we make allowance for these 
facts it is entirely credible that the child cannot memorize 
a set piece with the same facility that a youth or an adul I 
can memorize such a piece. The sum of the evidence goes to 
show that, in voluntary memorizing, or in deliberate mora:> 



210 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

rizing, one becomes more efficient up to maturity; and ex- 
periments, such as those of Meumann, have shown that 
there is still a possibility for indefinite improvement. 

The child's spontaneously received impressions appear 
to be very lasting. There seem to be facts of observation 
which indicate that some kinds of impressions which a 
child receives are retained by him with as great or greater 
exactness than the impressions which are made upon the 
mind of the adult. Such are those impressions which a child 
receives through the spontaneous attention he gives to the 
events about him. The boy who sees a fire engine upon 
the street is giving his whole attention to this object, and 
he is tremendously interested in it. The impressions which 
the objects make upon his mind are very strong on account 
of this attention and interest. We may assume that a child 
ordinarily pays attention to those things in which he is 
intensely interested, and that accordingly the casual im- 
pressions which he receives may be stronger than most of 
those made upon the mind of the older person. 

The memory of adults for childhood events is due to 
keeping impressions fresh for a long time. Aside from the 
fact that such spontaneous impressions may be very last- 
ing, the evidence for the superior retentiveness of the mem- 
ory of a child is probably false. We often hear used as an 
example of the greatest retentiveness of the child's memory 
the fact that poems learned in early childhood remain clearly 
in our minds, when others which have been learned since that 
time have faded out of our minds. This does not illustrate 
a superior memory upon the part of the child, but rather 
another law which has been already mentioned, namely, 
that the older an impression becomes, the more likely it is 
to remain a permanent possession. If something has been 
learned a long time ago, and if we have repeated it suffi- 
ciently so that we retain our memory of it, it makes a very 



ASSOCIATION AND MEMORIZING 211 

lasting impression in our minds. A more recent acquisition, 
on the other hand, tends to fade out more quickly. This 
explains our memory of those pieces which have been 
learned in childhood. Many of them have faded from mind, 
but those which have been repeated occasionally so as to be 
kept fresh become thereby firmly fixed, and they probably 
will be retained in memory through life. By exercising care 
to revive impressions occasionally by repetition, some time 
after the original learning, the adult can attain somewhat 
the same permanence which is possessed by such of the 
child's memories as persist. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. Would you ascribe the horse's turning in at his gate to memory? 
Why? 

2. Is memorizing wholly like memory in the full sense of memory? How 
does it compare with habit? Does it in any sense go beyond habit? 

3. Give four illustrations of association other than memory. 

4. Give an instance of a logical association and pick it to pieces to show 
why it is called logical. 

5. Give an illustration of your own of the way by which meaning may 
be found in an association. 

6. Mention several kinds of material which ought to be learned beyond 
the threshold. 

7. Is care in the first perusal inconsistent with making a quick, prelimi- 
nary survey to get the main points? 

8. Give illustrations from your own experience of the effect of learning 
under pressure. 

9. Why, do you think, is the whole method of memorizing particularly 
valuable for permanence? 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

Colvin, S. S. The Learning Process, chap. rx. (Macmillan, 1911.) 
Ebbinghaus, H. Memory. (Tr. by H. A. Ruger and Clara E. Bussenius, 

Teachers College, Columbia University, 1913.) 
Meumann, E. The Psychology of Learning. (Tr. by J. W. Baird. D. Ap- 

pleton & Co., 1913.) 
Watt, H. J. The Economy and Training of the Memory. (Longmans. 1909.) 
Whipple, G. M. How to Study Effectively. (Public-School Publishing Co., 

Bloomington, 111., 191G.) 



CHAPTER XI 

PROBLEM-SOLVING OR THINKING 

The puzzle illustrates the problem-solving type of learn- 
ing. We have thus far been describing the kind of learning 
which consists in the formations of associations between 
movements and stimuli, which we have called sensori-motor 
learning, the acquirement of the ability to recognize and 
interpret impressions, which has been called perceptual 
learning, and the formation of associations between ideas. 
There is another type of learning which is radically differ- 
ent from these. We may illustrate this type of learning 
by a simple experiment. Figure 19 is one that was used 
by Lindley in an experiment which will be referred to 
shortly. This figure is an example of the unicursal puzzle. 
The problem is to trace the figure without omitting any 

part, without lifting the pen- 
cil and without retracing any 
lines. Let the reader attempt 
the puzzle and then come back 
to the discussion and inter- 
pretation. 

In the solution analysis 
plays an important part. This 
puzzle may be solved in a 
variety of ways. The most 
efficient method in the long 
run is to analyze the figure 
into a number of simpler fig- 
ures and then trace each of these figures by itself. It will 
be seen that the central line is a separate element, and in 



Fig. 19. Tait's Puzzle 



PROBLEM-SOLVING OR THINKING 



213 



order to trace the figure one must begin at one end of this 
line. After this is done the other figures may be traced one 



r 





Fig. 20. Illustrations of Forms of Analysis 



at a time. Figure 20 illustrates two ways in which this 
analysis may be made. 

The distinguishing feature is the clear recognition of a 
problem and of its solution. This form of learning is differ- 
ent from those which have been described, in the fact that 
it consists in the solution of a problem. We start out with 
a question in mind, and we examine the problem in various 
ways until finally we are able, as we say, " to see through " 
the problem. When we have finished, we understand the 
conditions and the solution. We have not merely acquired 



214 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

a habit of response which we know will succeed because it 
has succeeded in the past, but we understand why this par- 
ticular mode of response succeeds. 

Problem-solving is a typically human procedure. The 
contrast between this form of learning and the simpler forms 
may be illustrated also by the experiment which is some- 
times used in animal learning, in which the animal learns to 
get out of a cage which is fastened by a latch, bolt or other 
fastening. The animal in this case acquires the appropriate 
response because he finds through repeated random trials 
that this response releases the door. The human being, on 
the other hand, would be likely to attack such a problem by 
studying the relationship of the bolt and the latch so that 
he could solve it at the first attempt, and so that after he 
had solved it he would understand why the movement which 
he made released the latch and opened the door. 

Other examples. There are many instances in our every- 
day life which furnish opportunities for thinking or prob- 
lem-solving. It is true we can and do meet these situations 
frequently in an habitual or instinctive manner. We do not 
analyze the situation, discover its various elements and 
their bearing upon the solution, and reason toward a con- 
clusion. But the opportunity is there even if we do not take 
it. In the arrangement of one's life in such a way as to meet 
the conditions of health in the best possible manner there is 
a capital opportunity to exercise thought. It is said, prob- 
ably with truth, that nearly all persons live much below 
their possible efficiency because they do not properly obey 
the laws of health. In order to live up to the highest possible 
efficiency of which one is capable it is necessary to know the 
general principles which have been discovered by science. 
This, however, is not sufficient. It requires considerable 
study to know just how the general principles of right living 
are to be applied in one's own individual case. Each person 



PROBLEM-SOLVING OR THINKING 215 

has his peculiar capacities and peculiar demands upon his 
strength. The task before him is to discover how he can best 
utilize his strength in order to meet his duties. To do this 
adequately he needs not to follow custom and habit, but to 
experiment and discover the best possible arrangement of his 
own life. Vocations also present this problem. The choice 
of one's life work demands that one should weigh the op- 
portunities presented by the various callings, and match the 
opportunities with his abilities and interests and the pos- 
sible training which he can get for himself. The proper 
exercise of one's civic and political duties furnishes another 
excellent opportunity. It requires a strenuous exercise of 
one's mind to think through the issues which are presented 
in a political campaign and to attempt to weigh the char- 
acter and the abilities of the various candidates. If it is 
possible, then, to train the child to think, it is of the great- 
est importance that we should do so. 

Problem-solving depends upon the grasp of relationships 
which contribute to a solution. Put in general terms, the 
difference between this higher form of learning, which we 
may call problem-solving, and the lower forms, which are 
largely the formation of associations, consists in the fact 
that, in the problem-solving type of learning, one grasps 
or apprehends certain relationships in the situation. The 
learner is able to see that one fact bears upon another in such 
a way that he can solve the problem by proceeding in an 
orderly manner. When one understands the fallacy or the 
correctness of an argument, it is not because he has found by 
experience that one sort of argument succeeds and the other 
does not; but it is because he sees that, in the fallacious argu- 
ment, the statements do not hold together, whereas, in the 
correct argument, one statement depends upon another. 
We may accordingly define problem-solving or thinking as 
setting up a conscious goal, the attainment of which presents 



216 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

difficulties, and the discovery and recognition of that relation- 
ship between the elements of the problem which will lead to its 
solution. 

Chess illustrates the problem-solving attitude. Another 
illustration of the problem-solving type of learning may be 
found in learning to play chess, which was studied by 
Cleveland. Here again we have a case in which the aim is 
to understand the relationship of the various elements in 
such a way that one may discover a response which meets 
certain definite conditions. When the chess player has be- 
come an expert, he is able to see a large number of these 
relationships simultaneously and to foresee the result of a 
long series of moves. The beginner can only see a few 
relationships and these only one at a time. The expert at 
chess acquires what is called a sense of position. Sense of 
position means the ability to grasp the position of the various 
pieces in such a way that the possibilities of future moves 
can be apprehended. 

Intelligent problem-solving may be combined with random 
trial in various proportions. Lindley has shown that in solv- 
ing the type of puzzle which is illustrated above, a person 
very frequently is able to break up the problem into its 
parts, and see how these parts are related to one another, 
with sufficient clearness so that he can give the correct draw- 
ing at the first attempt. In other cases a person may proceed 
in a blind fashion and use a more primitive method of find- 
ing the solution for this kind of problem. We must not 
suppose that because the problem is present, a person neces- 
sarily uses the higher type of learning, or of understanding, 
in solving it. An extensive study of the problem-solving 
type of learning has been made by Ruger, who used mechan- 
ical puzzles. Ruger found that various methods may be 
used in the solution of such problems. An intelligent or un- 
intelligent mode of procedure may be used. One may pro- 



PROBLEM-SOLVING OR THINKING 217 

ceed systematically to consider the various modes of attack- 
ing the problem, or he may go about it in a hit-or-miss 
fashion. Finally, after the problem has once been solved, 
one may not understand how it was done and so may find it 
necessary to blunder about again as he did the first time. 
In other cases, even a hit-or-miss solution may result in an 
understanding of the problem and of its conditions in such 
a way that it can be immediately solved thereafter. 

All forms of learning involve some kind of analysis. While 
there are differences among the various forms of learning 
which have been described, there are also some common 
features. The most common of these are two. In all these 
forms of learning there is, in the first place, an analysis or 
breaking up of some phase of the situation or of the response. 
In the case of sensori-motor learning, the analysis may con- 
sist in the selection of one movement out of a whole group 
of movements, or it may consist in the selection of a cer- 
tain stimulus to which a particular response is to be made. 
In perceptual learning, as illustrated in drawing, one must 
break up the figure, or the object which is to be recognized, 
into parts, before a complete recognition of the organized 
whole is possible. In the case of the problem- solving type 
of learning, this analysis or breaking up of a problem into its 
elements is equally evident from the illustrations which have 
been given. 

All forms of learning also involve the association of ele- 
ments. The other phase of learning consists in putting to- 
gether those elements which have been analyzed, and is 
again illustrated in both sensori-motor and the higher types 
of learning. In any complex form of movement it is neces- 
sary to combine movements into a coordination. Thus in the 
case of handwriting, after we have separated the movements 
of the thumb and the first two fingers from those of the 
last two fingers, it becomes necessary to acquire the ability 



218 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

to use these fingers simultaneously or in an appropriate 
order. We have also to make the finger movements in the 
proper relationship of time or of strength to the movements 
of the arm. In perceptual learning we have to organize the 
elements in order to build up an object which shall have 
definite meaning. In learning to draw a figure, the lines are 
combined into a figure which had a clearly recognized form. 
In learning to read, we put the letters together in the recog- 
nition of a word or a combination of words. In the problem- 
solving type of learning we reach the solution by recog- 
nizing the fact that the different elements of the problem 
are related to one another in a certain definite way so as to 
contribute to the solution. In learning to open a lock we 
see that the springs and the levers have such a relation that 
by pressing one lever the others will be released. The 
unique feature of problem-solving, then, is not the fact 
that it requires that we break up a situation into its ele- 
ments and associate the elements. It is rather in the man- 
ner in which this breaking up and associating is done. The 
analysis is made more or less intelligently, with more or less 
definite purpose and method, which grows out of an under- 
standing of the nature of the problem; and the association 
is not only made, but is also recognized. There is insight into 
the reason that the particular combination of elements leads 
to the solution. 

1. Reasoning l 
Reasoning is a clear recognition of the steps in solving 
a problem. When this higher type of learning, which is 
called problem- solving, reaches the stage in which we defi- 
nitely and consciously pass through a number of steps in 
order to reach a solution, and clearly recognize that these 

1 Reasoning is sometimes taken to include merely deductive thinking, 
but the term is here taken to mean both inductive and deductive thinking. 



PROBLEM-SOLVING OR THINKING 219 

steps are dependent upon one another because they lead in 
the direction of the solution, we call the mental process 
reasoning. We may describe in a little further detail what 
the steps of reasoning are, and may illustrate the different 
kinds of reasoning. 

An illustration of scientific thinking in an every-day situa- 
tion. A clear description of the steps through which one 
passes in problem-solving is given by Dewey in How We 
Think, page 70. An example which he uses may be quoted 
to illustrate these steps : — 

In washing tumblers in hot soap-suds and placing them mouth 
downward on a plate, bubbles appeared on the outside of the 
mouth of the tumblers and then went inside. Why? The presence 
of bubbles suggests air, which I note must come from the inside 
of the tumbler. I see that the soapy water on the plate prevents 
the escape of the air except as it is caught in the bubbles. But why 
should air leave the tumbler? There was no substance entering to 
force it out. It must have expanded. It expands by increase of 
heat or by decrease of pressure, or by both. Could the air have 
become heated after the tumbler was taken from the hot suds? 
Clearly not the air that was already entangled in the water. If 
heated air was the cause, cold air must have entered in transferring 
the tumblers from the suds to the plate. I test to see if this suppo- 
sition is true by taking several more tumblers out. Some I shake so 
as to make sure of entrapping cold air in them. Some I take out 
holding mouth downward in order to prevent cold air from entering. 
Bubbles appear on the outside of every one of the former and on 
none of the latter. I must be right in my inference. Air from the 
outside must have been expanded by the heat of the tumbler, 
which explains the appearance of the bubbles on the outside. 

But why do they then go inside? Cold contracts. The tumbler 
cooled and also the air in it. Tension was removed and hence 
bubbles appeared inside. To be sure of this, I test by placing a cup 
of ice on the tumbler while the bubbles are still forming outside. 
They soon reverse. 

Upon examination, each instance 1 reveals more or less clearly, 
five logically distinct steps; (1) a felt difficulty; ( L 2) its location and 

1 Other illustrations beside the one her_e reproduced were also given. 



220 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

definition; (3) suggestion of possible solutions; (4) development by 
reasoning of the bearings of the suggestions; (5) further obser- 
vation and experiment leading to its acceptance or rejection; 
that is the conclusion of belief or disbelief. 

In induction an explanation is sought for observed facts. 
It will be seen that in the full solution of a problem, as il- 
lustrated in this case, there are two forms of procedure which 
are constantly illustrated in the study of natural science. 
We may distinguish between two kinds of problems. In at- 
tempting the solution of the first type of problem, we ask our- 
selves the question, " What principle may be found which sat- 
isfactorily explains these facts which have been observed?" 
In the illustration before us, the facts which were observed 
were the alternate expansion and contraction of the soap 
bubbles. In order to explain these facts, it was suggested 
that the principle of expansion of air through heat and its 
contraction through cold might explain the fact. In order 
to determine certainly that this principle did account for it, 
further observation and experiment had to be made, but 
the first procedure was to cast about for some general prin- 
ciple which would explain the fact. This was the form of 
procedure which in natural science is called induction. It 
may be illustrated in the case of the problem as to the condi- 
tions which are necessary to the growth of plants. One may 
observe a variety of plants, or the same plants under a va- 
riety of conditions, and notice that certain amounts of water 
will produce luxuriant growth and that smaller amounts will 
produce less luxuriant growth, and that still smaller amounts 
will produce death. The generalization on these observed 
facts is induction, and, as a result of this procedure, one 
develops a general principle as to the relationship of water 
supply to plant growth. 

In deduction the consequences of a general principle are 
predicted. After the generalization had been reached in the 



PROBLEM-SOLVING OR THINKING 221 

study of the soap bubbles, it was not regarded as proved but 
rather as a tentative conclusion. We call such a tentative 
generalization an hypothesis. The application of an hypo- 
thesis through deduction is the next step. 

A good illustration of the application of a general principle 
through deduction is the discovery of the planet Neptune. 
After the general law of gravitation had been discovered and 
applied to the movements of the planets it appeared that 
the planet Uranus did not follow the path which was to be 
expected on the basis of this law. Through elaborate cal- 
culations it was determined that if the law was correct the 
movement of the planet Uranus could be explained by the 
presence of another planet of a particular size and in a par- 
ticular position. An astronomer then turned his telescope 
toward this region of the heavens and discovered the planet 
Neptune. This is a beautiful example of the application of 
the general principle of gravitation and of the confirmation 
of that principle by virtue of the fact that the prediction 
which was based upon its application turned out to be cor- 
rect. Deduction, then, may be said in general to be the 
answer to the question, "If this general principle is true, 
what will be the result in a particular case? " 

Deduction is used to test an induction. In the experiment 
on soap bubbles, the application of the principle was not 
made in order to test the reliability of the principle of the 
expansion of air by heat, but its purpose was to test the 
reliability of the inference that this principle is the explana- 
tion of the observed facts. Supposing that the alternate con- 
traction and expansion was due to heating and cooling, if 
the cold air were taken into the glass when it was set down 
the expansion would occur; whereas if the glass were lifted 
in such a way that cold air was not caught in it, there would 
be only contraction. This application of the principle was 
found to work and the principle was confirmed. In this 



222 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

case we see another application of the question, " If this prin- 
ciple is true, what will be the result? " for the purpose of con- 
firming the correctness of an hypothesis. 

Induction is emphasized in research, deduction in applied 
science. Induction, or the discovery of general principles, 
is the general method of research. It is the method pursued 
by the scientist who wishes to explain facts which have not 
already been explained by the discovery of new principles, or 
by the application to them of principles which have been 
previously discovered. Deduction, on the other hand, is the 
procedure of applied sciences in which new applications are 
made of familiar principles. Engineering is an illustration 
of this process. Engineering takes the laws which have been 
discovered in regard to the amount of strain which various 
metals will stand, and the amount of strain to which ma- 
terials are subjected in different forms of structure, and 
applies these principles to the building of a bridge or the 
construction of a building. Deduction may be used in the 
verification of principles, in the sense that applications are 
made for the purpose of confirming or rejecting hypotheses; 
and induction may be made in applied sciences to determine 
what the general principles are which would apply in a par- 
ticular case; but, in general, the one method is used mainly 
in research and the other chiefly in applied science. 

Problem-solving requires independent discovery. There 
is a marked contrast between true problem-solving and the 
process which we sometimes describe as thinking or reason- 
ing. It is not thinking for the student to simply follow the 
beaten path which another has made before him. True think- 
ing always involves the element of uncertainty as to the 
path which is to be followed and the independent discovery 
of this path. The contrast may be illustrated in the study 
of geometry. In the old style method in which the demon- 
stration was clearly set forth in a scries of steps and the pupil 



PROBLEM-SOLVING OR THINKING 223 

was required to follow and learn this demonstration there 
was very little true problem-solving involved. The true 
method of solving such a problem as this is to discover what 
facts are known which will contribute toward the proof of 
the proposition which is to be demonstrated, and to learn 
how these facts can be set in such an order that they will 
lead toward the solution. When the student sets out in- 
dependently to discover such a proof, he begins with the 
aim or the goal, and casts about in his mind for suggestions 
of known facts which will help him toward the solution. 
When he merely follows the proof in the text he begins with 
facts which have already been selected for him, and passes 
from one to another without seeing how they contribute 
toward the solution until the solution has finally been 
reached. The element of the discovery and selection of the 
appropriate facts, which is present in all true problem- 
solving, is here lacking. 

Independent discovery may be present in greater or less 
degree. The principle that the student should be thrown on 
his own resources is sometimes stated in too sweeping fash- 
ion. It is of course out of the question that the pupil should 
discover without any assistance those scientific laws which 
have required centuries of research by the ablest minds of 
the world to discover. The teacher prepares the way of the 
pupil to the discovery of the facts which he investigates. 
The very formulation of the problem itself in precise terms 
is a help toward its solution. The discovery of a problem 
may be said to be as important or more important than the 
solution of the problem itself, and frequently the clear state- 
ment of a problem is sufficient to make its solution easy. 
The teacher may carry the assistance a step farther by 
suggesting possible facts which might contribute toward 
the solution. The part which would be left to the pupil in 
this case would be the selection of those facts which are 



224 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

appropriate and the rejection of the others. The teacher 
might even go another step farther without completely 
doing the work for the pupil. The facts which contribute 
toward the solution might be stated, but they might not be ar- 
ranged in such a way as to show their bearings upon the prob- 
lem. The pupil might then be asked to show how the facts 
bear on the problem and to draw the conclusion from them. 
Thinking is related to a knowledge of logic much as speak- 
ing and writing are related to a knowledge of grammar. The 
principles of correct thinking of a deductive sort have been 
worked out and systematized in formal logic. A great many 
rules have been thus laid down determining what one can do 
and cannot do in valid reasoning from general principles to 
conclusions. In order that the relations of the statements 
which are laid down in an argument may be clearly brought 
out they are arranged in a particular order. The most gen- 
eral statement, upon which the conclusion is founded, is 
called the major premise and is placed first. The particular 
fact which is assumed by the argument to be true, and is 
taken as the further basis of the conclusion, is placed next; 
and the conclusion follows last. Certain rules can then be 
applied to this series of principles or statements, called a 
syllogism, to test its correctness. Take for example, the fol- 
lowing syllogism: — 

Major premise: Oranges will not grow without an amount of 
moisture equivalent to twenty inches of rainfall. 

Minor premise: There is rainfall amounting to twenty inches in 
the State of Illinois. 

Conclusion: Therefore, oranges will grow in Illinois. 

One does not have to have been a student of logic in order 
to realize that this argument is not correct. The province 
of logic is to determine just where the error gets in. This 
may be done by recasting the three statements. It may 
then be shown why they do not hold together. Thus : — 



PROBLEM-SOLVING OR THINKING 225 

All places in which oranges will grow are places in which there 
is an amount of moisture equivalent to twenty inches of 
rainfall. 

Illinois is a place in which there is an amount of moisture 
equivalent to twenty inches of rainfall. 

Therefore, Illinois is a place in which oranges will grow 

This makes each statement an assertion of a relation be- 
tween two terms. In all three statements, however, there 
are only three terms; namely, (1) places in which oranges 
will grow; (2) places in which there is an amount of moisture 
equivalent to twenty inches of rainfall; and (3) Illinois. The 
first and third terms are brought into relation in the conclu- 
sion by first bringing each of them into relation to the 
second in the premises. The second is therefore called the 
middle term. Why then is the argument not valid? The fal- 
lacy may be made clear in a diagram. Let each term be rep- 
resented by a circle. The following situation is possible. The 
middle term (2) does not necessarily bring the 
other two (l and 3) into relation. In order to 
have done so it should have included all the cases 
to which it may refer in one or the other pre- 
mise. Thus if the major premise had been — 

All places in which there is an amount of moisture equivalent to 
20 inches of rainfall are places in which oranges will grow, — • 

the argument would have held. The technical statement of 
the rule is that the middle term must be distributed in at 
least one of the premises. 

A knowledge of logic does not teach one how to think 
but is of assistance in detecting incorrect reasoning. Be- 
sides a knowledge of the laws of correct reasoning other 
characteristics are necessary to make one an efficient rea- 
soner. In the first place a knowledge of logic is largely a 
negative affair. It enables one to check up his own errors 




226 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

or the errors which are made by other people, but does not 
point positively to the path which one should pursue. In 
order to reason one must have a supply of ideas about the 
subject with which he is dealing, and a knowledge of logic 
never gives him these ideas. In the second place, just as one 
may know a rule of grammar and still violate it, so one may 
know the principles of correct reasoning and still commit 
a fallacy. The fact that one knows the law does not guar- 
antee that one will always be alert to his own infractions of 
the law. Therefore a large amount of practice in thinking 
and in checking up one's own arguments and the argu- 
ments of others is of more value than a knowledge of the 
formal principles, though these are worth while in making 
clear to one's self the reason for the mistakes which are 
made. 

A knowledge of the scientific method is of assistance in 
inductive thinking. The procedure of the trained thinker 
is contrasted with that of the untrained or careless thinker 
in several ways. The first and perhaps the most important is 
the avoidance of the practice of jumping to conclusions. The 
trained thinker always suspends his judgment until the 
evidence is sufficient to make it reasonable to draw his con- 
clusions. The suspension of judgment is always a difficult 
thing for the untrained or uncritical thinker. He tends to 
accept the first explanation which offers itself. This, of course, 
is always more of a temptation in a field in which one's 
knowledge is not extensive, but it is also a more general char- 
acteristic of the thinking of some individuals than of others. 
It is always a rather uncomfortable thing to hold one's judg- 
ment in abeyance and to give up the pleasure of making 
up one's mind. The danger in too hastily jumping to a con- 
clusion is that we thereby become unable to give proper 
attention to opposing considerations. Our minds are closed 
to other evidence. 



PROBLEM-SOLVING OR THINKING 227 

The second characteristic of the scientific method is sys- * 
tematic procedure. An extreme example of this is the method 
by which Edison is said to have discovered the material from 
which the carbon filament of incandescent lights could be 
made. It is said that he systematically tried out thousands 
of substances before the bamboo filament which was fin- 
ally adopted was discovered. One needs to ask himself where 
the evidence is which bears upon the problem before him, 
and then systematically to search for the evidence until 
a sufficient amount is discovered to make the conclusion 
valid. The two general methods of search for evidence in a 
systematic way are the statistical and the experimental 
method. In the statistical method the investigator counts up 
the facts which are already in existence and which might 
throw light on his problem, and in the experimental method 
he creates the facts by an artificial means. 

A third requirement of correct scientific thinking is that 
one should be free from prejudice in the matter which he is 
investigating. This is perhaps the most difficult attitude to 
maintain. One may be prejudiced because of his previous 
scientific beliefs or because the question which he is inves- 
tigating seems to him to touch upon moral or religious mat- 
ters and is therefore associated with strong emotions. The 
mere habit of believing a certain principle makes it difficult 
to believe the opposite one. It is important that one should 
form the practice of examining his beliefs in order to see 
whether he holds them because of the evidence which exists 
to support them or only because he has grown accustomed 
to them. All of these characteristics of the scientific method 
may be cultivated. It is easiest to apply them in a field in 
which one has worked, and there are persons who are scien- 
tific in their own field of work but are prejudiced and hasty 
in their conclusions in other fields. It is possible, however, 
to get such a clear grasp of these principles, and to get such 



228 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

a habit of putting them into practice, that they may become 
more or less a part of all one's thinking. 

Efficient thinking demands the possession of adequate 
information. We saw in the analysis of the process of think- 
ing that the movement of thought from the problem to its 
conclusion depended upon the suggestion of ideas which rep- 
resent possible solutions. This fertility of association may 
depend in part upon the thinker's native constitution of 
mind. One person may have few ideas and another many 
because of their inborn nature. The fertility of ideas depends, 
however, in part upon another condition which is susceptible 
of improvement. One has many ideas on subjects on which 
he has large quantities of information and few ideas on sub- 
jects concerning which his information is limited." It is cus- 
tomary to draw a contrast between ability in thinking and 
mere ability to amass information. It is true that we some- 
times meet persons who have a retentive memory and can 
give many facts, but who have not put these facts together 
so as to draw conclusions. They lack the mental control 
and the recognition of relationship which is necessary for 
thinking. On the other hand, a person is always limited 
if he does not possess adequate information. A first-class rea- 
soner is never lacking in the ability to assemble facts to use 
as the basis of his conclusions. The possession of a store of 
facts is always of especial value in the construction of an ar- 
gument which shall be convincing to other persons. The 
lawyer is incompetent as a reasoner about health and dis- 
ease, not because he is a poor thinker in general, but be- 
cause he does not possess the necessary knowledge in this 
field. In the same way the physician is not a reliable rea- 
soner with reference to matters of law. The criticism which 
has often been made upon the mere collection of facts 
and the memorizing of information by the child is likely to 
carry us too far to the other extreme and to lead us to a 



PROBLEM-SOLVING OR THINKING 229 

contempt for facts which will greatly hamper the process 
of thinking. 

Familiarity with good models of reasoning is of value. If 
we had to choose between familiarity with examples of rea- 
soning from masters in the various fields of science and a 
study of the laws of logic, the choice would lie with familiar- 
ity with good models. As in sensori-motor learning so also in 
problem-solving one learns much by imitation. The modern 
school and college fail to give the student sufficient contact 
with the writings of the first-rate thinkers of the world. A 
student may go through high school and college and never 
read any scientific works except the textbooks. The text is 
necessary to summarize the present knowledge in any field 
of knowledge, but it would also be highly valuable for the 
student to come in direct contact with some of the original 
investigations which have served as landmarks in the de- 
velopment of science. To bring the student in contact with 
such masters as Adam Smith in Economics, Darwin in 
Biology, or William James in Psychology is to do him a 
service which cannot be supplied by secondhand rework- 
ing of these men's ideas. 

2. Individual and age differences 
The child is said to be fit only for mechanical forms of 
learning. A stock generalization regarding the child and his 
development is that before adolescence the child's actions 
are controlled by habit, memory, and authority, but that 
he does not learn to reason until the period of youth. This 
principle is often applied to the education of the child dur- 
ing the intermediate period of his elementary school life. 
It is urged that at this time the child is capable chiefly of 
drill and of memorization, — that is, of the more mechani- 
cal sorts of learning. It is said that this is the period when he 
should be storing his mind with a wide range of facts, even 



230 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

although he may not understand them at the time; and that 
he should at this period be acquiring a great variety of habits 
without himself recognizing the value or the significance of 
these habits. This recognition he will gain with the develop- 
ment of his reason at the time of youth. 

Tests show that the child can reason. It is difficult to 
understand how a person who observes a child in his spon- 
taneous activities can hold such a belief regarding his abil- 
ity to reason. • Bonser's experiments, which were made to 
test the child's ability in this direction, indicate compara- 
tively little difference between the child of eight and the 
youth. The test was given to all of the children from the 
fourth to the sixth grades. In the lower grades there were 
some children as young as eight years of age and in the upper 
grades there were some who were sixteen. When these chil- 
dren were grouped according to age a good many of those in 
the younger group gave as good responses to the tests as did 
the better ones of the older groups. There was, to be sure, 
some error in this comparison, due to the fact that only the 
brighter of the younger children would be included by such 
a method of selection, whereas of those above twelve years 
of age only the slower or the duller ones would be included. 
But even with this qualification the facts are remarkable. 

An illustration of a child's reasoning. In further support 
of the belief that the child can reason, the following illustra- 
tion may be offered from the life of a child of five years of age. 
This boy was taking his afternoon rest in company with his 
father, but was restless and wished to get up and play. The 
following colloquy took place : — 

Boy: "I am not tired." 

Father: "Yes, you are. I can tell because you wiggle so much." 

Boy: "Then you are not tired." 

Father: "Why?" 

Boy: "Because you do not wiggle." 



PROBLEM-SOLVING OR THINKING 231 

There is, of course, a fallacy in the boy's argument, but 
if we excluded all arguments which contain fallacies, we 
could materially reduce the evidence of reasoning on the 
part of adults. 

Reasoning is limited by experience. The child's reason- 
ing is naturally limited by the experience which he has had 
and the material which is within his understanding. In 
much the same way the reasoning of the primitive or the 
uneducated person is limited. The European peasant who 
believes in the efficacy of a silly and superstitious mode of 
treatment for disease is not thereby exhibiting a lack of abil- 
ity to reason, but rather the lack of opportunity to develop 
his capacity for reasoning. The child is continually drawing 
conclusions within his own sphere. The task of the educa- 
tor is to determine what that sphere is and how rapidly it 
can be widened at different ages, and what type of reason- 
ing is suited to the different stages of development. 

The child has characteristic deficiencies in reasoning. 
This does not mean that there are no differences in the 
ability of the child to reason at different ages. The child be- 
fore adolescence certainly does reason, but he suffers from 
certain defects or deficiencies which very commonly make 
his reasoning unsound. These defects again are not dif- 
ferent in kind from those which affect the reasoning of older 
persons, but they are present in a somewhat higher degree, 
due to the peculiar conditions of the child's stage of develop- 
ment. Some of these conditions may be briefly mentioned. 

Narrow range of information is one cause of limitation in 
reasoning. In the first place, as has already been said, it 
is clear that the correctness of a person's reasoning will de- 
pend in a large measure upon the amount of experience 
which he has had, and the amount of information he pos- 
sesses on the subject on which he reasons. If this is true 
in the case of adults, and if the expert in a certain field is 



232 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

able to reason better than the person who lacks informa- 
tion about it, it is clear that the child suffers from a disabil- 
ity in this matter which affects not only certain subjects 
but subjects in general. Because of his narrower range of 
information, it is evident that he does not have the mate- 
rial with which to reason with the same effectiveness that 
the older person does. 

The child is deficient in critical judgment. Beyond this 
difference in his experience, the child seems to lack somewhat 
the ability to suspend judgment and to bring to bear upon 
any course of argument a variety of considerations. We ex- 
press this by saying that he lacks critical judgment. We 
mean by critical judgment the disposition to examine any 
conclusion with reference to all the information which may 
bear upon it. How far this deficiency in critical judgment 
may be a general feature of the child's mind, and how far 
it is merely the result of his deficient experience we do not 
know. A person is more critical in those fields with which he 
is familiar than in others, and the educated person is in 
general more critical in his judgment than is the ignorant 
person. We may ascribe at least part of the child's deficiency 
in critical judgment, then, to his lack of experience. An- 
other way of putting this same principle is to say that the 
child is more suggestible than the adult. He is more apt to 
follow the course of thinking which is laid down by another 
person without judging for himself whether it is correct or 
not. 

The child is less capable of sustained, patient thought than 
the adult. Some limitation in thinking ability is also due 
undoubtedly to the child's narrower mental scope, and de- 
ficient ability in sustaining his attention to a given subject 
for a considerable length of time. In order to reason prop- 
erly it is necessary that we keep in mind the various pos- 
sible considerations which may affect the problem. If we 



PROBLEM-SOLVING OR THINKING 



233 



lose sight of some of these we may reach a conclusion which 
is unbalanced, in which certain of the facts are not taken into 
account. The child is notoriously apt to follow out one issue, 
or one side of a question without taking into account the 



Percent 

00 




II III IV V VI VII VIII 

Grade 
Fig. 21. Age Progress Curves in Problems of the Same Kind 
but Different Difficulty 

(Completion Sentences from Trabue.) 



234 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

other. Furthermore, he soon tires of pursuing any particu- 
lar course of thought. This, as in the other forms of dis- 
ability, is a matter of degree. They do not mean that the 
child lacks certain powers which the adult has, but rather 
that certain propensities are not so highly developed in him 
as they are in the adult. 

The child's intellectual development in general is gradual. 
The child's development in the ability to meet particular 
intellectual problems may be somewhat sudden, but the 
ability to do particular tasks is to be distinguished from 
ability in a general type of process. Whether we believe that 
the child's ability to think depends on his individual experi- 
ence or upon the development of his nervous system and the 
inner factors of mental maturity, the observation of the 
child and the more scientific tests which have been made 
combine to indicate that his development is gradual. There 
is no sudden evolution in his ability to think. We frequently 
meet with a fairly rapid development in the ability to handle 
certain problems, but if we examine the ability of a child in 
an earlier stage, we will see that he was capable of handling 
a problem of the same general sort, provided it is an easier 
example of it. If again we observe him in a still later stage of 
his development, we see that he has progressed so that he is 
now able to handle a still more difficult problem of the same 
general type. To adequately measure the child's growth, 
then, it is necessary that we test him with a series of prob- 
lems of advancing difficulty. There are critical periods with 
reference to any particular task or problem, and such a task 
or problem is an adequate test only for such a critical period. 
In an earlier period the child's almost complete inability to 
do the task is likely to lead to the false conclusion that he 
has no ability whatever of the type required, and his solu- 
tion of the problem in a later age may not be a measure of 
his full ability to meet more difficult ones. 



PROBLEM-SOLVING OR THINKING 235 

x 

Graded tests furnish good illustrations of the child's 
intellectual growth. A study of the scores made by children 
of different ages upon a series of tests requiring the same type 
of ability but of increasing difficulty, furnishes good illus- 
tration of the principles brought out in the preceding para- 
graph. A good illustration of such a scale is the comple- 
tion-test scales organized by Trabue. The scores of children 
from the second to the eighth grade in several successive 
steps of the scale are taken as the basis of Figure 21. The 
chart was constructed in this way: Each line represents the 
scores of the children for the various grades in one particular 
sentence. The height of the curve for a particular grade rep- 
resents the total score made by the children of that grade. 
The sentences are designated by the numbers used in the 
original monograph. These sentences are as follows: — 

4x. Time often more valuable money. 

5y. The rises the morning and at night. 

8y. It is a task to be kind to every beggar 

for money. 

lOx. It is very to become acquainted 

persons who timid. 

lly. When one feels drowsy and , it happens 

that he is to fix his attention very successfully 

anything. 

Suppose now we had only the scores for sentence 4x as a 
basis for judging the child's development in this type of intel- 
lectual capacity. We should say that the function developed 
very rapidly from the second grade to the fifth, and more 
slowly to the seventh grade, and that there it reached its 
maximum. If on the other hand we had the score of sentence 
lly only we should say that this intellectual function de- 
veloped hardly at all until the seventh grade, and then rather 
rapidly to the eighth, the course of development indicating 
the probability that it continued beyond this point. On the 



236 



HOW CHILDREN LEARN 



Ph "3, 



basis of the scores of all the sen- 
tences, however, the only correct in- 
terpretation is that the child pro- 
gresses steadily in his ability to do 
harder and harder tasks of the same 
sort, but that in one particular degree 
of difficulty there is a stage of devel- 
opment in which there is rather rapid 
progress preceded by a stage of low 
ability and followed by a stage of 
almost complete mastery. 

Differences between individuals 
are large in comparison with the 
amount of progress with age. The 
advance in thinking with age in a 
problem of particular difficulty is 
complicated by the differences be- 
tween individuals of the same age. 
The advance would be more rapid if 
it were not obscured by the factor 
of differences within each age. At 
any particular age or grade there are 
a number of children whose ability is 
less than the majority and another 
group whose ability is greater. The 
presence of these better and poorer 
pupils makes the advance in score 
gradual. A direct representation of 
the spread of the ability of different 
individuals of the same grade may 
be taken from the same monograph 
by Trabue. Figure 22 is a some- 
what hypothetical drawing based 
upon the degree of scattering of the 



PROBLEM-SOLVING OR THINKING 237 

scores of the children in each of the grades, and shows 
what we may expect in general the degree of distribution 
to be. Each bell-shaped curve represents the scores of the 
children in a particular grade, and the figures on the base 
line represent the scores. Thus in the fourth grade the scores 
of the different individual children extend from to 9. The 
score marked C.G. represents college graduates. The scat- 
tering of the individuals of a particular group is so star- 
tlingly large that the only two groups which are entirely 
separated are those of the second grade and the college 
graduates. Between every other two groups there is some 
overlapping. There are some individuals in the second grade 
who get as good scores as some in the last year in the high 
school, and there are some in the third grade who do as well 
as some college graduates. 

The differences in one particular test, especially when it 
is given only once, are much larger than would be the dif- 
ferences in a group of tests or in a single test given several 
times. There are certain accidental factors which place an 
individual's score high or low when the score is based only 
on a single determination. Even with these qualifications, 
however, the differences in ability among individuals of 
any particular age or among adults are tremendous in the 
field of thinking or of the higher intellectual processes, as in 
the field of sensori-motor ability, perception, or of memory. 
It is not surprising that the school finds great difficulty in 
classifying the pupils so that those of something like similar 
ability shall be together. The use of tests, both those of 
a general character and of tests of ability in the particular 
school subjects, has proven to be of help in the classifi- 
cation of children and is probably destined to be of still 
greater help in the future. 



238 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 



QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. Are the other forms of learning which have been described carried on 
without purpose or aim? If they also have purpose or aim, is it like that 
of problem-solving? If not, what is the difference? 

2. Discuss with further illustrations the question whether animals solve 
problems. 

3. What part of the definition of problem-solving, as it is given in this 
chapter, sets it off most clearly from other kinds of learning? 

4. Find some illustration of problem-solving from your experience and 
analyze it into the five steps given by Dewey. 

5. Tell which of the following cases of reasoning are inductive and which 
deductive, and give your reasons. 

a. The inference from mental and physical tests of children afflicted 
with malaria and hook worms that these diseases retard the child's 
physical and mental development. 

b. Using the facts and laws of fatigue and learning to infer what the 
best time schedule for third-grade pupils is. 

c. Drawing conclusions from the results of an appropriate experi- 
ment regarding the relative advantages of the part and whole 
methods of memorizing. 

d. Drawing up a plan for teaching spelling, using the results of ex- 
perimental studies of the value of the various methods. 

6. How do the deductive inferences indicated in the preceding question 
serve to check up the validity of inductions. 

7. Mention two methods of teaching science, one of which emphasizes 
independent discovery and the other not. 

8. How else is an argument to be criticized beside testing it for formal 
correctness — that is, for correctness in the relation between the 
premises and the conclusion? What kind of examination would such 
additional criticism require? 

9. Show that the practice of patiently searching for evidence for beliefs 
includes the chief elements of the scientific method. 

10. Give any evidence you can that the child reasons from his early years. 

11. Give illustrations of the sorts of defects in reasoning to which the child 
is especially liable. 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

Bonser, F. G. The Reasoning Ability of Children. (Teachers College Con- 
tributions to Education, no. 37. 1910.) 

Cleveland, A. A. "The Psychology of Chess and of Learning to Play It"; 
in American Journal of Psychology, vol. 18, pp. 269-308. 

Dewey, J. How We Think. (D. C. Heath & Co., 1910.) 



PROBLEM-SOLVING OR THINKING 239 

Lindley, E. H. "Study of Puzzles"; in American Journal of Psychology, 
vol. 8, pp. 431-93. (1897.) 

Parker, S. C. Methods of Teaching in High Schools, chap. ix. (Ginn & Co., 
1915.) 

Ruger, H. A. "The Psychology of Efficiency"; in Archives of Psychology, 
no. 15, Columbia University. 

Thorndike, E. L. Educational Psychology, vol. 2, "Psychology of Learning." 
(Teachers College, Columbia University, 1913.) 

Trabue, M. R. Completion-Test Language Scales. (Teachers College Con- 
tributions to Education, no. 77. 1916.) 



CHAPTER XII 

GENERAL PRINCIPLES REGARDING THE CHILD'S 
MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 

The contrast between different ages 
In the discussion of the separate forms of mental develop- 
ment in the child we have met with illustrations of the dif- 
ference between the child at different ages. In this chapter 
we shall attempt to bring together the various facts which 
appear from a study of the development of the instincts and 
capacities in order to draw some general conclusions as to 
the laws of mental growth. In the history of thought re- 
garding the child and his development we have swung from 
one extreme to another. The earlier students and writers 
upon the child emphasized the necessity of understanding 
and taking account of the differences which exist between 
the child and the adult. Rousseau, for example, criticized 
sharply the practice, which was characteristic of his time, 
of treating the child as a small adult. Rousseau dwelt upon 
the fact that the child is not merely weaker than the adult, 
but that his capacities and instincts are different in kind 
from those of the adult. Writers on child-study from the 
time of Rousseau to the present have emphasized differences 
in the constitution of the child's physical nature and in his 
interests and capacities. It is a well-known fact that the 
bones of the child contain a less percentage of lime than do 
the bones of the adult. After the physical analogy it is some- 
times said also that the child lacks such a capacity as moral 
discrimination and that this develops at about the time of 
adolescence. We shall discuss this point more at length 
presently. 



PRINCIPLES IN MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 241 

An example: The child's docility has been exaggerated. 
Although it was formerly necessary to emphasize the dis- 
tinction between the child and the adult, the pendulum has 
swung so far to the opposite extreme that it becomes neces- 
sary now to emphasize those points in which the child is like 
the adult. This is not merely necessary for the sake of gain- 
ing a correct scientific notion of the child, but also as a cor- 
rective for some of our practices toward him. For example, 
we ordinarily assume, and our science affirms,' that the child 
is more docile than is the older person. The child is depend- 
ent for the ideas which govern and control his conduct upon 
the direction of older persons, and he is willing to submit his 
conduct to such control. Although it is true that the child 
will cheerfully accept more direction and control than the 
adult, yet this point can very easily be overemphasized. 
The child likes to control his own conduct, and very com- 
monly he resents interference with it. He takes a pride 
in his ability to do things and very often would rather 
find out how to solve a problem than to be shown by 
another. 

It is not fruitful to inquire, When do certain capacities 
appear? We must not, of course, overlook the differences 
which actually exist at different ages, but we must avoid 
an erroneous interpretation of these differences. Because 
a child does not possess the ability to perform some task 
at one age and acquires that ability later may not mean 
that he has acquired any fundamentally new mental capa- 
city. The first uncritical study of the differences between 
children of different ages is too apt to lead to this form of 
interpretation. The questions which such studies are some- 
times made to answer are put in some such form as this, 
When does a certain power of capacity develop in the child? 
The result is a catalogue of the ages at which memory, 
imagination, reasoning, and so on, develop. 



242 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

We should rather ask, What form do the capacities take at 
a certain age? A more critical study of the facts which have 
been discovered through studies of the child leads to another 
view of his development. This development is rather to be 
viewed as a gradual unfolding of his powers than as the ac- 
quisition of new powers. This unfolding, in which the same 
fundamental capacities appear in doing more and more com- 
plex things, Was illustrated in the development of play and 
of reasoning. The question in the mind of the investigator 
or of the observer of the child should be rather, What forms 
do the fundamental capacities take at different times? 
than, When do certain capacities develop? 

Changes in social attitude with age are exaggerated. An 
illustration of the exaggeration of the differences between 
the younger and the older child may be taken from his social 
attitude. A common statement is that before adolescence 
the child is egoistic or selfish, whereas at adolescence the 
child becomes altruistic. This contrast is not true on either 
side. The child is not entirely egoistic, even when we inter- 
pret the statement as meaning that he is merely oblivious 
to the interests and to the welfare of others. It is sometimes 
said that the child is not selfish, because he does not feel 
that the interests of others make any call or demand upon 
him; but that his attitude can be characterized as one of 
selfishness, because he is completely absorbed in his own 
interests. 

The child has social impulses. This characterization 
leaves out of account the fact that the child possesses, in ad- 
dition to the instincts which lead to self -gratification, those 
instincts which identify him and his interests with those of 
others. It was seen in a previous chapter that the child 
possesses impulses of sympathy and of affection. It is true 
that where there is a conflict between these generous im- 
pulses and the more selfish ones, the latter commonly seem 



PRINCIPLES IN MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 243 

to be the stronger, but to ignore entirely the existence of the 
social impulses is to misrepresent the child's mental attitude. 

The youth is not wholly unselfish. The other side of the 
picture is equally false when we take it to mean that the 
youth is wholly or predominantly altruistic. It could be 
shown that even in those acts which we think of as altruis- 
tic or as expressions of self-sacrifice the person is actuated by 
a sense of the close relationship between himself and those 
persons who are benefited by his action; that is, his actions 
are commonly for the sake of a group in which he feels him- 
self to be closely identified rather than for the sake of others 
who have no relation to himself. It is rather, then, in the 
development of a sense of group relations that the youth 
differs from the child, and even in this it is a matter of de- 
gree rather than of development of a new sense or capacity. 

The contrast between the child and the older person is due 
partly to the child's impulsiveness. Another source of the 
difference between the child and the adult in this and in 
similar forms of response is that the child is more impulsive 
in his reactions, while the adult gives more deliberate con- 
sideration to the situation which confronts him, and to the 
various reactions which are open to him. We saw that the 
development of indignation results from the association of 
the instinct of anger with considerations of justice or of in- 
justice. The child may often be observed to express radi- 
cally opposite types of attitude toward the same person 
in successive moments. As an older brother of five said of 
his little sister of two years of age, " She first hits me and then 
loves me." 

The child distinguishes between right and wrong. An- 
other contrast which has been made between the child and 
the youth concerns the recognition and expression of moral 
ideas. A common mode of description is to say that the 
child is unmoral, — that is, that he lacks the moral sense, 



244 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

or the ability to distinguish between actions which are right 
and those which are wrong. It is difficult to see how this 
opinion can be held. The child's distinction between right 
and wrong is imperfect, to be sure. It rests upon a more 
external form of judgment than does that of the older person. 
The child learns to recognize one act as being bad and others 
as being good chiefly by their consequences, and without 
much reference to the motive which is behind the act. 
Furthermore, he gains a keen sense of the Tightness or 
wrongness of the acts of other people before he applies the 
same distinction to his own acts, but in this he differs from 
the older person only in the matter of degree. Illustrations 
of both these defects can be found in the lives of adults. 

The child gains greater independence of moral judgment 
and greater moral insight with age. It is true that the 
child's notions of right and wrong are gained chiefly from the 
attitudes which he observes in those about him. It is true 
also that as he grows older he comes to a truer appreciation 
of the reason why certain actions are right and others are 
wrong. But this insight which he gains is never a complete 
one, as is shown by the fact that adults in different nations 
or in different levels of civilization have widely different no- 
tions as to what is right or wrong. The child shows his ca- 
pacity for making a distinction both by his ability to rec- 
ognize it when he sees it made by another and also by the 
code which children develop in their association with one 
another. The development in this case, then, is not to be 
thought of as the acquirement of a new capacity but rather 
as its development into a completer form. 

2. Factors in the child's development : current theories 
The child's development waits partly on brain growth. 
The foregoing conclusion should not be taken to mean that 
the child's development is wholly due to his increase in ex- 



PRINCIPLES IN MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 245 

perience. We know that the child's brain is immature in 
comparison with that of the adult. Up to eight years of age 
the child's brain is increasing rapidly in weight, and beyond 
that time there is a large amount of development in the 
formation of associations between the neurones of the brain. 
This progress in association never ceases so long as the in- 
dividual continues to learn. It is more rapid, however, dur- 
ing the period of immaturity than it is during the period of 
adulthood. How far the child's development must wait 
upon the growth of the brain cells and how far it is merely de- 
pendent upon the growth of experience is a difficult ques- 
tion to determine. We may describe the development of the 
typical child without settling this question. The question 
arises when we attempt to explain what causes this develop- 
ment and attempt to lay down the limits beyond which the 
child's development at a certain age cannot go. 

Some emphasize the importance of brain growth as a 
factor. Here, as in many other cases, we may distinguish 
two radically opposing views. On the one hand, there are 
those who have interpreted the facts of brain growth to mean 
that the child goes through a series of definite and widely 
different stages of growth. It would hardly be an exaggera- 
tion to characterize this view as meaning that the child is a 
different creature at different ages. We shall see in a mo- 
ment how this notion has been developed in the culture- 
epoch theory. 

Cases of precocious development emphasize the impor- 
tance of experience. On the other hand, many students of the 
child are coming to think that too hard and fast a line has 
been drawn between the possibilities of children at different 
ages. The popular magazines have contained many descrip- 
tions of experiments which parents have conducted in the 
endeavor to bring about a very much more precocious de- 
velopment of their children than is common. There are his- 



216 HOW CHILDEEN LEARN 

torical instances of successful attempts to produce such de- 
velopment. One of the best known of such instances is the 
case of the scholar, John Stuart Mill. In Mill's autobiography- 
is described the method which his father pursued in his edu- 
cation. It is recorded there that the boy began to read Greek 
at three years of age, and that he organized and wrote a 
book on political economy, using the ideas which were given 
to him orally by his father, at the age of twelve. There are 
other instances of the same sort on record. The interpreta- 
tion of such cases is still too uncertain to be made with much 
confidence or precision, but they should at least raise the 
question whether we have not held too rigidly to the notion 
of sharply defined stages of development. 

This notion of the child's development as proceeding by 
means of the sudden appearance of new powers has been 
termed the theory of nascent stages. 1 The theory of nascent 
stages means that at certain definite times in the child's 
life a particular capacity suddenly appears. In the literal 
meaning of the word, the capacity is born. For example, 
this theory assumes that the interest in a particular form of 
play or that the capacity for imagination or the capacity for 
reasoning develops at a very definite time. This theory is 
also taken to mean that if a certain capacity or interest 
is not fostered at the time that it appears, it will die out and 
the opportunity for its development will be lost. In the 
light of the above discussion the theory of nascent stages 
must be regarded as true only to a limited extent. The child 
does not develop any important new capacities after the 
first two or three years at least, and we know so little about 
the most favorable time for the development of any interest 

1 A nascent stage in the child's development is a stage at which a new 
ability or a new form of ability is supposed to develop (literally to be born). 
The theory of nascent stages is that the sudden appearance of new abilities 
is the common method by which the child develops. 



PRINCIPLES IN MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 247 

or capacity that we cannot say with confidence that there 
is a certain time when it is necessary to strike the iron in 
| order that it may not grow cold. 

An explanation of the order of development is offered in 
the culture-epoch theory. The doctrine of nascent stages 
has been developed another step in order to explain why the 
various interests or capacities develop at definite times. 
This second theory is based upon the assumption that there 
is such a definite time and order of development. If such is 
the case, it undoubtedly raises the problem of explaining the 
reason for such definiteness and such order. The theory 
which has been worked out to meet this problem is that the 
order of development in the child repeats the order of de- 
velopment in animal evolution and in the history of the 
human race. This is called the "recapitulation" or the 
"culture-epoch" theory. 

The field covered by the recapitulation theory. The re- 
capitulation theory is not confined to the explanation of 
the mental development of the child. In fact it was first 
formulated to explain certain similarities which were found 
between the human embryo at certain stages and certain of 
the lower forms of animal life. For example, at a certain time 
the embryo has gill slits which suggest the fish stage of de- 
velopment. This correspondence in physical growth is one 
which is not by any means complete. Only suggestions 
exist here and there to indicate a relationship between the 
human individual and previous stages in animal evolution. 

The field covered by the culture-epoch theory. As the 
recapitulation theory was developed from the observation 
of physical growth and is confined largely to correspondence 
between animal evolution and embryological development 
(development before birth), so the culture-epoch theory 
serves to explain chiefly mental development, and deals 
with an assumed correspondence between the growth of the 



248 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

child from birth to maturity, and the advance in human 
nature and in civilization from the beginning of the human 
race until the present. This distinction between the two 
forms of theory is not always maintained, but is usually 
implied. 

There are difficulties with the theory due to the imperfect 
knowledge of primitive man. Aside from the criticism of the 
culture-epoch theory on the ground that the child's capa- 
cities do not develop suddenly or at definite stages, it may 
be tested by examining the attempts which Have been made 
to establish a correspondence in detail. These attempts have 
been in the main very vague and unsatisfactory. There 
is an element of uncertainty in them which is based upon the 
limitation of our knowledge as to the characteristics in the 
mental life of primitive man. Radical changes are taking 
place in the views which anthropologists hold of primitive 
mental life. The illustrations which have been used to sup- 
port the culture-epoch theory are based chiefly upon the 
older and now outgrown views of the characteristics of 
primitive man. For example, Herbert Spencer held the 
theory that the savage is lacking in inhibition or the ability 
to check the expression of impulses. The child clearly has 
this characteristic, and this was used as one of the illustra- 
tions of a correspondence. Present-day anthropologists, on 
the other hand, hold that the primitive man is more con- 
trolled by inhibitions than is the civilized man. Examples of 
these inhibitions are found in the various sorts of taboo. 
Various tribes have taboos with reference to food. Under 
certain conditions food must not be eaten and the savage 
will undergo extreme privation rather than violate this taboo. 
This shows that the older view of Spencer was incorrect, and 
the parallelism with the child's development breaks down. 

Efforts to specify parallel stages are not satisfactory. It 
would seem that if there is any clear parallelism, it could 



PRINCIPLES IN MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 249 

be most easily displayed by considering merely the broad 
stages of development. There might very well be a difficulty 
in establishing details, but the general outlines ought to be 
clear. In order to determine whether such parallelism can 
be clearly established we may take a typical attempt to work 
it out. The development of the child is divided into three 
stages as shown in the following table : — 

Table IV which attempts to show Correspondence between 
the Development of the Child and the Race x 



Stages of development in 
the race 


Stages of development in the 
child 


Ages 


Mythical and heroic 
Transition 

Freedom and self-gov- 
ernment 


Intuitive sense perception 
Imagination and memory 

Logical thinking 


Birth to 6 
6 to 10 

10 to maturity 



The description of the stages in the child's development 
is faulty. In examining the value of this parallelism we may 
first ask ourselves regarding the correctness of the description 
of the child's development. On this point the discussion in 
the earlier part of the chapter throws light. Imagination 
and memory are in this table placed at the years from six 
to ten. It is obvious that neither of these begins at six or ends 
at ten. It is difficult to see that they are particularly more 
prominent at this period than they are at any other period 
in the child's life. Again we found that logical thinking does 
not begin at a definite period but is present in the earliest 
years. 

The correspondence between the two series is not clear. 
An examination of the correspondence between the stages 

1 Second Report of National Ilerbart Society (New York, 189G), p. 73. 
From an article by Levi Seeley, "Culture Epochs." Seeley takes the table 
from the Herbartian. Rosencranz. 



250 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

brings out equally glaring faults. It is difficult to see why 
the mythical and heroic period should be related to intuitive 
sense perception. It would seem rather to be related to im- 
agination. The second period of racial development is called 
intermediate. This means nothing, and is therefore merely 
a confession of inability to characterize such a period. The 
third period of freedom or of self-government does not appear 
to be essentially related to logical thinking. An assertion of 
freedom is rather more a matter of vigorous activity than of 
thinking. One might proceed to discuss the question how far 
the periods of racial development themselves are in accord 
with the facts, but the difficulties of the whole parallelism 
have been sufficiently brought out. 

The safest course is to determine how the child develops 
by studying the child directly. It is difficult to see why one 
should attempt to learn about a fact which is near at hand 
for observation by studying another fact which is remote from 
observation, particularly when the relationship between the 
two facts is open to question. A very much more reliable 
method of determining the child's mental development is to 
study the child directly rather than to attempt to trace it 
through a study of racial development. This is particularly 
evident from the fact that in order to establish a relation- 
ship between the child and the race it is necessary first to 
study the child. 

How far is the rate of the child's development fixed? 
This question of stages of development brings up a further 
problem with regard to the rate of development of the child. 
The theory of nascent stages or the culture-epoch theory 
assumes that there is a fairly definite rate of progress to 
which most children at least must conform; or at any rate 
these theories assume that the development of a particular 
child must take place at a certain rate which has been deter- 
mined by the character of his nervous system. The child is 



PRINCIPLES IN MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 251 

thought of somewhat after the manner of a clock which has 
been wound up to go at a certain fixed rate of speed. 

Rate of development may be measured. It is necessary to 
examine this question of rate of mental development, not on 
the basis of theories, but on the basis of a study of the actual 
facts. There are two measures of rate of development which 
are at hand and which have been widely applied. In the first 
place, we may take note of the rapidity with which the child 
progresses through the grades of the school. In addition to 
this, there has been a scientific attempt to measure the rate 
of development of the child by testing his individual mental 
capacities. This latter attempt is embodied in the Binet- 
Simon Scale of Intelligence. This scale consists in a group of 
tests for each age which are supposed to be passed by all 
children at that age. If a child is able to pass tests for 
ages superior to his own, he is regarded as advanced. If 
he cannot reach the tests of his own age, he is regarded as 
retarded. 

Children differ greatly in rate of advancement. On the 
basis both of school progress and of measurement by the 
Binet Scale it is found that there is a wide variation in 
the rapidity of development of different children. This 
variation is in both directions from that of the typical 
child; and it is probable that about the same number of 
children develop more rapidly than the average as develop 
more slowly. The rough measure which we are able to get 
from the Binet tests indicates that perhaps fifty per cent of 
children are either advanced or retarded by an amount 
equal to a year's development. Many, of course, are ad- 
vanced or retarded by a larger amount. 

Rapid development corresponds in general with high abil- 
ity. We have not yet sufficient information to enable us to 
say with certainty what the significance of this difference 
in rate of development is, but it seems probable that the 



252 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

children who develop more rapidly are in general superior 
in ability to those who develop slowly. The Binet Scale in 
its application to the study of feeble-mindedness assumes 
that the degree of mental deficiency of the child corresponds 
to the number of years which he is behind the typical child 
in development. This should not be taken to mean that such 
a child is altogether like the child of the age at which he is 
placed by the test. There are undoubtedly differences be- 
tween the subnormal or the mentally deficient child and 
the normal child besides this one of a difference in rate of de- 
velopment; but that there is considerable correspondence 
between rate of development and ability is probable. 

This view is contrary to one which has been traditional 
among educators. It has been commonly thought that 
precocious development is a distinct disadvantage to the 
child. This view has rested mainly upon the theory that 
the advance in evolution has consisted in the lengthening of 
the period of infancy or of immaturity. The longer period 
of infancy in the higher stages of evolution makes possible a 
greater mental development. The infant or the immature 
individual has greater leisure to devote to those activities 
which stimulate his development, and has greater time in 
which such development may take place. 

The importance of lengthened infancy for the race does 
not apply to individual comparisons. This theory may be ac- 
cepted with reference to a comparison of different evolu- 
tionary stages without its being necessarily applied to a com- 
parison of different individuals in the same evolutionary 
stage. Here again, as in the case of the culture-epoch theory, 
it is safer to examine the facts which are presented to us 
rather than to apply a more or less remote theory. One of 
the facts which has been established, in addition to those 
resulting from the application of the Binet tests, is that the 
physically superior child, — that is, the child who is heavier 



PRINCIPLES IN MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 253 

or taller than the typical one, — is farther advanced in the 
school, on the average, than the physically inferior child. 
There is, of course, opportunity for a great deal of individual 
variation, but this is the general rule. This would seem to 
indicate that there is a correspondence between physical 
precocity and mental precocity. These children have not 
yet been followed to adulthood in order to determine how 
they compare with the slower developing children in the 
long run, but the conclusion is suggested by the fact that 
taller and heavier children are the ones who have their rapid 
growth earlier. 

Cases of extreme precocity suggest the necessity of a 
modification of the traditional view. The extreme opposite 
of the common opinion with reference to precocity is repre- 
sented in experiments already referred to, which have been 
tried by a few parents who have attempted to bring about a 
much more rapid development in their children than is usual. 
The best known case of such an experiment is that made by 
Professor Boris Sidis of Harvard. Sidis succeeded in so edu- 
cating his son that he entered Harvard at the age of ten and 
at this age he was sufficiently advanced in his mathematical 
studies that he lectured on the fourth dimension to a body 
of expert mathematicians. Reference has already been 
made to the case of John Stuart Mill. Experiments of this 
kind have been watched with interest, but it will be necessary 
to follow such cases to maturity and to study them from the 
point of view not merely of proficiency in some special type 
of intellectual ability but also in their whole conduct of life 
before definite conclusions can be drawn from them. Further- 
more, we must know whether or not there are cases in which 
such attempts do not succeed or produce undesirable results. 
It is natural that the successful attempts should be the 
ones which should be given publicity. It may be that there 
are failures of which we do not know. 



254 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

S. Conclusion 

The foregoing discussion has been largely critical of certain 
types of interpretation of the child's mental development. 
The view that the child develops in certain definite and 
clearly marked stages, that he acquires at certain turning 
points radically new capacities, and that this development 
can be explained by some such theory as the culture-epoch 
theory has been combated. It becomes necessary in con- 
clusion, to attempt to say in what the child's development 
does consist and what are the conditions or the factors by 
which it is produced. 

An important factor is the development of interests. One 
of the important aspects of the child's development is the 
difference in interest which appears at different ages. The 
child may have a capacity to perform certain tasks at a cer- 
tain time, but he may not desire to do so. Those differences 
in interest which undoubtedly exist may be partly instinc- 
tive and partly the result of knowledge and experience. To 
take an illustration from the development of play, we found 
that the girl is much interested in dolls at about the age of 
seven or eight. This interest is not so keen a little later. The 
loss of interest in dolls might be explained partly by the 
waning of an instinctive tendency, and partly by such 
growth in mental development that the child substitutes 
for this interest an interest in something else. A thing may 
become uninteresting because it has lost its meaning to a 
person through his ability to appreciate some higher form 
of activity. In addition to an instinctive basis for the devel- 
opment of interest, it is undoubtedly to be explained partly 
as a result of one's growth in knowledge and experience. A 
person cannot long be interested in trying to perform an 
activity which is beyond his power, or in an object which he 
cannot understand. We find that in adult life our interest in 



PRINCIPLES IN MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 255 

a field develops as our knowledge in that field enlarges. We 
find also another similarity to the development of the inter- 
ests of the child, namely, that we are at first interested in the 
more superficial aspects of things, but that we become inter- 
ested in their fundamental aspects as we become more ac- 
quainted with them. A person unacquainted with electricity 
is attracted by the glitter and movement of the machinery 
by which electricity is produced, whereas the expert in the 
field may think rather in terms of the energy which is being 
transformed as expressed in kilowatts or amperes. Thus 
our interest not merely becomes greater in those fields in 
which we are versed, but also changes in reference to the 
aspects of things in which we are interested. 

Mental development is also undoubtedly partly to be 
explained by growth in the simpler, elementary capacities 
of the mind. The number of objects to which one can pay 
attention simultaneously places upon our thinking certain 
limitations. The child very likely has a somewhat narrower 
scope of attention than has the adult. Experiments which 
have been made in order to test this matter, however, indi- 
cate that the difference is slight. While the adult may grasp 
from six to eight objects which are presented to his sight, the 
child of eight years of age may grasp within one of as many 
objects. 

Growth in scope of attention is partly due to familiarity 
with the material. Even this difference may possibly be due 
to a difference in familiarity with the procedure of testing. 
When we examine the scope of attention for more complex 
things, such as groups of dots instead of single dots, we find 
that there is a greater difference. This corresponds to the 
fact that we can hold in mind a larger number of things with 
which we are familiar than of those which are new to us. 
The adult has a larger scope of attention with reference to 
some things than with reference to others. One unfamiliar 



256 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

with machinery can see only one thing at a time when ob- 
serving a machine, whereas an expert can distribute his at- 
tention over the various parts of the machine. Thus, in 
order to discover a fault in the mechanism, the novice would 
have to examine it part by part while the expert could detect 
it in a general survey. We can comprehend the directions 
for a trip throughout a part of the city with which we 
are familiar very much better than when the region is 
unfamiliar to us. 

A large factor is the accumulation of experience. Where- 
as, then, we may ascribe the development of the child partly 
to the growth in fundamental interests or capacities, we must 
account for a large part of his mental growth by the accumu- 
lation of experience. The child's mental development is ex- 
tremely rapid, largely because he starts out with no experi- 
ence whatever and has everything to learn in the world 
about him. The adult has acquired a familiarity with the 
ordinary facts of his surroundings and his development pro- 
ceeds only in the direction of certain of the details. 

Instincts are more important as factors in social develop- 
ment, and experience is more important in intellectual 
development. This emphasis on experience should not be 
taken to mean that the development of instincts has no 
effect upon the child's mental growth in general. W r e may 
make a distinction between the sphere of mental develop- 
ment which is more affected by the instincts and that which 
is more affected by experience. Those attitudes of the child 
which govern his social responses are probably due in larger 
measure to the appearance of instincts at certain stages in 
his life than is the development of the intellectual ability. 
The outstanding example of the influence of instincts upon 
social attitudes is, of course, the change or modification which 
takes place at adolescence. This is the most prominent ex- 
ample of the importance of instincts in governing stages of 



PRINCIPLES IN MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 257 

development. So far as intellectual development is con- 
cerned, a much larger share must be ascribed to experience 
than has commonly been done. 

Stages of development need to be carefully investigated. 
The emphasis which has been put in this chapter on the like- 
ness between the child in different stages of development, and 
the argument that the stages of development are not so rigid 
as has been thought or so fixed by the inner laws of the child's 
growth, should not be taken to mean that it is a matter of 
indifference at what period a particular subject is taught. 
It is still necessary to examine carefully the natural stages of 
development, — and would be even if they depended only on 
the acquirement of experience. The ability to count to one 
hundred and to understand the higher numbers follows, and 
does not precede, the ability to count to ten and the familiar- 
ity with the smaller numbers. In order to understand the 
meaning of the moral questions which are met in the govern- 
ment of a nation or in the conduct of a corporation one must 
have had sufficient experience to know what kind of human 
relationships are represented in such institutions. 

The aim of the whole book is to describe stages of develop- 
ment in learning. It appears then that there are two main 
principles which govern stages of development. The one, 
which in the past has been overemphasized, is the develop- 
ment of instincts. In this, mere inner growth has a large 
share. The chapters on the instincts have been concerned 
with the description of the main outlines of this phase of 
the child's mental development. The other is the intellec- 
tual development of the child as represented in various forms 
of learning. In this the general principles of learning are of 
greater weight, though the development of the instincts also 
has some effect on the process. The chapters upon the va- 
rious forms of learning were concerned with showing the 
stages of development in learning. This development was 



258 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

seen to be due in part to training in each specific form of 
learning, and in part to the child's general mental growth. 
This general mental growth in the forms of intellectual 
ability turned out to be very largely the composite result of 
the various particular forms of training — that is, of ex- 
perience. The more detailed discussion of the relation of 
particular forms of training to general mental development 
belongs to the next chapter. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. Is the adult equally docile or equally independent under all circum- 
stances? What are some of the conditions which engender docility? 

2. What practical difference does it make whether we think of the child 
at a certain age as not having a particular capacity, such as reasoning 
or moral judgment — or whether we think of him as having the capa- 
city in low degree or incomplete form? 

3. Give illustrations of the fact that the older person's appearance of 
superior benevolence is sometimes due to his acquirement of control 
over the expression of his impulses. 

4. Is any criticism to be made of the view that the adult is radically dif- 
ferent from the child in his moral life in that his moral judgments are 
based upon his own independent observation and reflection? 

5. If it were possible for the child to be born with the brain fully developed 
so far as inner growth is concerned, would he be mentally mature at 
birth? Explain your answer. 

6. Would there be any similarity between the mental development of the 
child and the race apart from the inheritance by the child of a predis- 
position to a particular order of development? Explain. 

7. Illustrate differences between children in rate of mental growth. 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

Binet, A., and Simon, T. H. A Method of Measuring the Development of the 
Intelligence of Young Children. Translated by Clara H. Town. (Chicago 
Medical Book Co., 1913.) 

Bonser, F. G. The Reasoning Ability of Children. (Teachers College Contri- 
butions to Education, no. 37. 1910.) 

Bryan, E. B. "Nascent Stages and their Pedagogical Significance"; in 
Fed. Sem., vol. 7, pp. 357-96. (1900.) 

Dewey, J. "Culture Epoch Theory"; in Cyclopedia of Education, vol. 2. 
Edited by Paul Monroe. (The Macmillan Company, 1911-13.) 



PRINCIPLES IN MENTAL DEVELOPMENT 259 

Hall, G. S. Adolescence. (D. Appleton & Co., 1904.) 

Judd, C. H. Psychological Characteristics of the Intermediate Grades. (School 

Review Monographs, no. 3, pp. 1-60. University of Chicago Press, 1913.) 
Mill, J. S. Autobiography. 
Montessori, M. The Montessori Method. Translated by A. E. George. 

(Frederick A. Stokes Co., 1912.) 
Porter, W. T. "Physical Basis of Precocity and Dulness"; in Transactions, 

Academy of Science, St. Louis, vol. 6, no. 7. (1893.) 
Rousseau, J. J. Emile. Translated by W. H. Payne. (D. Appleton & Co., 

1892.) 
Sidis, Boris. Philistine and Genius. (Moffat, Yard & Co., 1911.) 
Thorndike, E. L. Educational Psychology, vol. 1, chap. xvi. (Teachers 

College, Columbia University, 1913.) 



CHAPTER XIII 

TRANSFER OF TRAINING, OR GENERAL TRAINING 

Can the child receive general training? The problem 
which is the subject of consideration in this chapter has 
already been incidentally referred to in previous chapters. 
It is, in general, the question of the effect of learning in cer- 
tain specific fields upon the development of the child in gen- 
eral, or upon his ability to act more efficiently in other fields 
of work. We may put the question in this way: Does the 
development which the child gains through his education 
consist merely in gathering information and in acquiring 
skill in one particular subject or in one particular narrow 
field of activity, or does he gain abilities which will make him 
more efficient when he meets problems in other situations? 
To take a specific illustration which has already been used: 
Can the child acquire the scientific method in one study in 
such a way that he may apply this method of approach to 
problems of another sort? 

Bain emphasizes the element of form in learning. The 
problem may be put by three quotations, two of which ex- 
press the affirmative answer to this question, and the other 
the negative answer. The first of these quotations is from an 
article entitled Education as a Science, by the psychologist 
Alexander Bain. 1 

The element of Form, Method, Order, Organization, as con- 
trasted with the subject-matter viewed without reference to form, 
has a value of its own; and any material that displays it to ad- 

1 Quoted by Heck, Mental Discipline (1st ed.), P- 18. The page refer- 
ence given by Heck (Mind, 1878, pp. 139-41) is incorrect, but the author 
has not succeeded in finding the correct page reference. 



TRANSFER OF TRAINING 261 

vantage, and enables it to be acquired, is justified by that cir- 
cumstance alone. The targets used in learning to shoot, the wooden 
soldiers which we aimed at in saber drill, although unreal, are 
effectual. It depends partly on the teacher and partly on the 
scholar whether the element shall stand forth and extend itself, 
or whether the subjects shall yield only their quantum of matter 
or information. 

Thorndike emphasizes specialized habits. The second 
quotation is from an earlier writing of Thorndike, in which 
he expresses considerable skepticism as to the amount and 
value of transfer of training. This quotation is taken from 

Principles of Teaching. 

The mind is by no means a collection of a few general faculties, 
observation, attention, memory, reasoning and the like, but is the 
sum total of countless particular capacities, each of which is to 
some extent independent of the others, — each of which must to 
some extent be educated by itself. The task of teaching is not to 
develop a reasoning faculty, but many special powers of thought 
about different kinds of facts. It is not to alter our general powers 
of attention, but to build up many particular powers of attending 
to different kinds of facts. . . . 

Training the mind means the development of thousands of par- 
ticular independent capacities, the formation of countless particu- 
lar habits, for the working of any mental capacity depends upon 
the concrete data with which it works. Improvement of any mental 
function of activity will improve others only in so far as they pos- 
sess elements common to it also. The amount of identical elements 
in different mental functions and the amount of general influence 
from special training are much less than common opinion sup- 
poses. The most common and surest source of general improvement 
of a capacity is to train it in many particular connections. 1 

Judd emphasizes generalization. As contrasted with the 
emphasis placed by Thorndike and others on habit, Judd 

1 Professor Thorndike has taken a mnch more hospitable attitude 
toward transfer of training in his later Educational Psychology, vol. n. But 
the seeds sown in the earlier writings of this and other authors are still 
bearing a harvest of opinion among practical school men. 



262 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

calls attention to the possibility of transfer in the field of 
thinking : — 

The important psychological fact involved in the above state- 
ments is that the extent to which the student generalizes his train- 
ing is itself a measure of the degree to which he has secured from 
any course the highest form of training. One of the major char- 
acteristics of human intelligence is to be defined by calling atten- 
tion, as was pointed out in the chapter on science, to the fact that 
a human being is able to generalize his experience. James has 
discussed this matter by using the example of the animal trained 
to open a particular latch. The animal becomes acquainted with 
the necessary movements to open one door, but he never has the 
ability to generalize this experience. He cannot see that the same 
method of opening doors is applicable to many other latches. The 
result is that the animal goes through life with one particular 
narrow mode of behavior, and exhibits his lack of intelligence by 
his inability to carry this single style of skill over to the other cases 
which are very familiar to the trained human intelligence. 

James goes on to say that the same distinction appears when we 
contrast a trained scientific mind with the ordinary mind. The 
ordinary thinker does not see how to deal with a situation in terms 
of scientific principles. James cites the example of his own experi- 
ence with a smoking student lamp. He discovered by accident 
that the lamp would not smoke if he put something under the chim- 
ney so as to increase the air current, but he did not realize that 
what he had done was only one particular example of the general 
principle that combustion is favored by a large supply of oxygen. 
The general principle and its useful application belong to the 
sphere of thinking and experience which the untrained layman has 
not yet mastered. 1 

1. Typical studies of transfer of training 
Some attempt has been made to solve this question by 
means of scientific experiment. For the sake of making clear 
the issues of the question and illustrating the types of ex- 
periment which have been tried, we may mention four typi- 

1 Judd, Chas. H. Psychology of High-School Subjects, pp. 413, 414. 
(Ginn & Co., 1915.) 



TRANSFER OF TRAINING 263 

cal experiments, two of which have led to conclusions un- 
favorable to transfer of training, and two of which have led 
to more favorable views. 

Thorndike and Woodworth studied the transfer of the 
ability to make special judgments. The first experiment to 
be mentioned, and the one which constitutes the earliest 
attempt to attack this problem experimentally, was made 
by Thorndike and Woodworth. This, as well as the other 
experiments which are to be mentioned, are described in some 
detail by Heck, who also gives references by which they can 
be followed up to the original articles. Thorndike and Wood- 
worth attempted to determine, among other things, the 
degree to which skill in judging lengths or areas would be 
carried over when one attempts to judge lengths which 
are different in extent, or areas which are different in size 
or shape from those which were used in the first practice. 
They found in most cases that there was improvement in 
judging those lengths or areas which were different in some 
measure from those on which the practice was made, but that 
the improvement was not so great as in the case of the 
original lengths or areas. They therefore took a critical atti- 
tude toward the possibility of transfer, and emphasized the 
smallness of the transfer, although it amounted in some cases 
to over thirty per cent. 

Bagley found that neatness was not transferred. The 
second experiment led its author also to take the view that 
the amount of transfer of habits is so limited as to be of little 
importance. This experiment was made by Bagley under 
school conditions and with school subjects. Pupils of a class 
were trained for the purpose of bringing about an improve- 
ment in neatness in their arithmetic papers. After they had 
undergone a certain amount of training in this subject, their 
geography papers were examined to see whether they had 
also improved in neatness in this subject, and it appeared 



264 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

that the improvement in neatness in the arithmetic papers 
was not carried over to the geography papers. 

Coover and Angell found transfer in discrimination, which 
they attributed to improvement in attention. The two other 
experiments emphasize the existence of transfer and illus- 
trate some of the methods by which.it may take place. The 
first of these was conducted by Coover and Angell, and con- 
sisted in training a number of persons to discriminate be- 
tween sounds of different degrees of loudness, and then in 
testing them before and after this training period in the abil- 
ity to discriminate fine differences in shades of gray. They 
found a large amount of improvement in the discrimination 
of grays, and attributed it to an increase in the ability to 
disregard those features of the task which were not essential 
and to give attention to those which were. 

Judd studied the importance of generalization in learning. 
The final experiment to be mentioned was made by Judd for 
the sake of determining whether the knowledge of the general 
principle which is involved in a task will enable one to profit 
by the experience when the conditions of the task are changed. 
He had two sets of boys trained in throwing darts at a tar- 
get under water. According to the well-known principle 
of refraction of light, an object which is placed under water, 
and is viewed at an acute angle to the surface of the water, 
does not appear to be as far beneath the surface as it actu- 
ally is. If a stick is placed in an oblique position in the water 
it appears to be bent for the same reason. When one at- 
tempts to hit a target seen in this position, one strikes too 
high and it is necessary to learn to readjust the aim in order 
to hit it. These two groups of boys were compared, one of 
them having been told this principle and the other not. In 
the first set of trials with the target at a given position, the 
two groups of boys did equally well. Those who had been 
told the principle had no advantage over the others. The 



TRANSFER OF TRAINING 265 

target was then placed at a different depth, which resulted 
in a different amount of displacement of its apparent posi- 
tion. The two groups then carried on a second series of trials, 
and in this case those who had learned the principle of re- 
fraction and its effect upon displacement, learned much 
more quickly than the other group. They were able to use 
the principle which had been taught them so as to take 
advantage of their experience in the earlier trials, and to 
readjust their mode of aiming in the second trial. 

2. Points on which there is general agreement 
We see from these illustrations, without going farther 
into a detailed description of other experiments, that there 
have been somewhat different results obtained from differ- 
ent methods, and by study of different kinds of learning, 
and that there have been various conclusions drawn from 
these experiments. We may sum up briefly the points upon 
which there is now a general agreement and those upon 
which there is difference of opinion, and then attempt to 
draw conclusions on the basis of experiments and of general 
psychological theory as to the extent to which we may ex- 
pect transfer to take place. 

It is generally agreed that there is some transfer of train- 
ing. The earlier experiments led the investigators to report 
the smallness of the amount of transfer and thus to give the 
impression that improvement in one application of a mental 
function did not result from training in others. This appear- 
ance of denial of any transfer is due in a large measure to 
the fact that it followed upon the theory that the transfer 
was complete, that is, that training in one field would 
produce as much improvement in another field as in the field 
in which the training itself took place. In contrast with this 
extreme view, the smallness of the amount of transfer which 
might take place in certain cases led to an exaggeration of the 



266 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

opposite view. The amount of transfer is not the same in all 
cases, but in most of the experiments, even in those of 
Thorndike and Woodworth's, some transfer of ability has 
been found. 

There is commonly far from complete transfer. As has 
been already remarked, the amount of transfer is usually 
not so great as was formerly supposed on the old mental dis- 
cipline theory. In some cases a large amount has been discov- 
ered. The improvement in the function which is not trained 
has sometimes been found to be almost as much as in that 
which has been trained. In general, however, we may expect 
a very much smaller amount of improvement when we trans- 
fer a function from one field in which it has been trained to 
another in which it has not been trained. 

The amount of transfer varies widely with the conditions. 
This general conclusion must be qualified by the statement 
that the amount of transfer varies both with the kind of 
function which is trained, and the kind of subject-matter 
which is used, and with the way in which the training is 
given and the capacity and attitude of the learner. We do 
not think of mental discipline now as analogous to the de- 
velopment of the muscle. This is a common figure which was 
formerly used to illustrate mental training. It was thought 
that the memory could be developed in much the same way 
that a muscle is developed by exercise, and that as a muscle 
after having gained increased strength in one kind of work 
will show an equal amount of increase of strength in an- 
other kind of work, so the memory could be trained with one 
kind of subject-matter and show an equal gain with other 
kinds of material. It is now generally recognized that the 
training may under some conditions be very narrow in its 
results, or it may under other conditions be very much 
broader in its results. Whether it will be confined to the sub- 
ject-matter which was originally employed will depend on 



TRANSFER OF TRAINING 267 

the way in which the learning is guided or directed, and 
upon the capacity of the learner to generalize and to profit 
widely by his experience. 

3. Points of difference of opinion 
Is a small amount of transfer important ? While these con- 
clusions will perhaps generally be accepted, there are certain 
points upon which there is still a good deal of difference of 
opinion. While it is agreed that the amount of transfer is 
not so great as was formerly thought, yet there is difference 
of opinion as to whether the smaller amount which is found 
to exist is important. Many hold that it is so small that it 
should not be taken into consideration in deciding what 
kind of training a pupil should have or what subjects he 
should study. Some believe that no subject can give a 
sufficient degree of general mental training to warrant its 
being retained or introduced into the school on that basis. 
If any subject cannot be shown to give a direct preparation 
for some particular activity of adult life, it is not, on this 
view, to be taught in the school, merely because it may be 
supposed it gives general mental development. On the 
other hand, there are those who believe that although the 
transfer may be very small in amount, yet it may be of suf- 
ficient importance to be of great value. Thorndike, who 
in his former writings minimized the importance of formal 
discipline or transfer of training, in his recent Educational 
Psychology l says that a fraction of one per cent of transfer 
may be important enough to make the attempt to develop 
the function distinctly worth while. He uses the illustration 
of the sense of fairness. "Ifa gain of fifty per cent in justice 
toward classmates in school affairs increased the general 
equitableness of a boy's behavior only one tenth of one per 

1 Thorndike, E. L. Educational Psychology, Briefer Course, p. 282. 
(Teachers College, Columbia University, 1914.) 



268 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

cent, this disciplinary effect would still perhaps be worth 
more than the specific habits." 

The structure of the brain does not furnish ground for 
disbelief in transfer. Some confusion of thinking exists with 
reference to the bearing of the facts of structure of the nerv- 
ous system upon the possibility or probability of transfer, 
and it is therefore worth while to refer briefly to this matter. 
Heck in his Mental Discipline devotes a chapter to this 
subject and holds that the demonstrated fact in regard to 
the localization of functions in the brain make a transfer 
of training highly improbable if not impossible. The facts 
regarding localization have been briefly mentioned in a 
previous chapter. They give no warrant at all for such a 
view as this. As was indicated in the description of the dif- 
ferent levels of the nervous system, the highest level, upon 
which we may expect the most significant transfer to take 
place, is the level on which the connection between the dif- 
ferent parts of the nervous system is the most widespread. 
However much the simple sensory or motor functions may 
be localized in the nervous system, yet it is perfectly clear 
that any thought process, or any process of activity of any 
degree of complexity, requires the cooperation of a large 
number of parts or areas in the brain. As was pointed 
out before, the association areas, which bind together the 
different parts of the brain and enable them to work in 
conjunction with one another, constitute the distinctive 
feature of the human brain. Take a comparatively simple 
intellectual act, such as writing. In this we use the motor 
centers which control the hand, and the motor centers which 
control the movements of the eyes, as well as those which 
make possible the maintenance of position of the rest of the 
body. We use the language center which enables us to 
imagine the pronunciation of a word or to pronounce the 
word inwardly; the center for hearing which makes possible 



TRANSFER OF TRAINING 269 

the ability to imagine how the word sounds ; and the center 
of vision which governs our perception of the word or the 
presentation to our mind of the image of the appearance of 
the word. Finally, there is involved in addition to all these, 
the activity of whatever centers may be involved in the 
idea as distinguished from the mere mechanics of the word 
itself. We have here the cooperation of a pretty large share 
of the brain, and there is manifest a system of connection 
which renders absurd any view that training may take place 
through the development of any single localized area. 

Is transfer possible only through ideals or some other 
single mental process? Another point upon which there is 
not entire agreement is in regard to the kinds of mental 
activity in which transfer may be expected to take place. 
This may be illustrated in a single case from Bagley's experi- 
ment with neatness. As a result of such facts as appeared in 
this experiment Bagley concluded that a mere habit does 
not carry over from one field to another, but that if there is 
developed, in addition to the habit, an ideal with reference 
to a certain kind of conduct, this ideal may lead to the de- 
velopment of similar conduct in another field. Judd, as we 
have seen, makes generalization the important means by 
which the results of training can be transferred, and Thorn- 
dike holds that transfer can best be explained by the exist- 
ence of identical elements in the mental processes. We shall 
have to raise the question whether any one formula is suffi- 
cient to furnish an explanation for all kinds of transfer. 

^. The various forms of transfer 
Transfer may be positive or negative. Before entering 
upon the discussion of the different forms of transfer in de- 
tail, it will be well to make a distinction which is sometimes 
overlooked. The relationship between different mental 
functions or between a mental function in one sphere and in 



270 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

another may be of two different and opposite sorts. The 
result of training in one field may be the increase of ability 
in another field, or it may result in the decrease of that 
ability. It is a matter of general observation that a person 
who has specialized in a profession often becomes thereby 
unfitted in a certain measure for commercial life. Certain 
professions are notoriously regarded as making their mem- 
bers easy victims for all sorts of financial and business sharp- 
ers. In such cases there is transfer of training, but it is of a 
negative sort. Transfer is positive when improvement in one 
function facilitates improvement in another, and it is nega- 
tive when training in one function interferes with another. 
Whether training is positive or negative, it indicates a rela- 
tionship between different functions of our mental life or be- 
tween the applications of a function in different fields. 

5. Transfer through common elements 
Some kinds of transfer may be described in terms of 
elements. A partial account of many of our mental activi- 
ties, especially the simpler ones, may be given by describing 
them as made up of elements. Some kinds of learning con- 
sist largely of the combination of a number of movements, or 
of the recognition or perception of objects, or of a series of 
associations which are made between objects and certain re- 
sponses. The simpler kinds of transfer may be described 
as taking place between two different activities which have 
in common one or another of these kinds of elements. 

Movements transferred from one activity to another may 
produce negative transfer. We may distinguish several 
kinds of transfer which can be described as due to the pres- 
ence of common elements. In the first place, a movement 
which has been learned in response to one stimulus may be 
transferred bodily to another situation so that it is made in 
response to a different stimulus. For example, if a person 



TRANSFER OF TRAINING 271 

who has learned to make a certain stroke in batting the ball 
in a game of baseball learns to play golf, he may use the same 
form of stroke in the new game. But if he does he will find 
that his progress is hindered, since a different kind of stroke 
is needed in the latter game. Instead of making a sharp hit 
in golf, one should make a long sweeping stroke. Another 
illustration may be taken from piano and organ playing. If 
one has learned to play the piano first and then learns to 
play the organ, he is likely to carry over to the organ the 
sharp, sudden blow he has learned on the piano, instead of 
exerting a sustained pressure. It is clear that the benefit to 
be drawn from carrying over movements from one activity 
to another depends upon their suitability in the second case. 
The fact that a movement has been used in a former activity 
may be a hindrance rather than a help when it is transferred. 
The presence of the same stimuli in two situations may 
cause interference. Instead of carrying over the same 
movements from one field to another, one may find it neces- 
sary to respond to the same stimulus in a second task as in 
the first, but by a different movement than that which was 
learned in the former task. This kind of reconstruction of 
the association between a movement and a stimulus is illus- 
trated in card sorting. Experiments have been made of the 
following nature. A pack of cards which contains several 
series numbered from one to ten, and arranged in the pack in 
chance order, may be sorted according to number by placing 
them in a series of piles. These piles may be arranged so 
that they do not come in serial order, as in the illustration : — 



9 4 6 10 8 

After one has developed considerable ability in sorting the 
cards with the numbers in one order, the order may be 



272 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

changed. In this case one is required to respond to the same 
numbers as before, but by different movements. The same 
change would be illustrated if a mail clerk had become ac- 
customed to sorting letters with the names arranged on the 
boxes in a certain order, and then was required to change his 
habit because of a shift in the arrangement of the names. 
In such a case the presence of the same stimulus in the two 
tasks acts rather as a hindrance than as a help. If an en- 
tirely new set of stimuli were used, one would profit by his 
first experience because he would have gained familiarity 
with the process of handling the pack, and with the general 
methods of procedure in sorting. When the experiment is 
carried far enough, these sources of improvement outweigh 
the difficulty which is due to a change in the order of the 
numbers, but the mere fact of the identity of the elements 
in this case may act as an .interference when they are asso- 
ciated with different movements. 

Simple, elementary associations between stimuli and 
movements are sometimes applicable in a variety of situa- 
tions. There are various kinds of elementary associations 
which may be similar or identical in different activities and 
which may serve as a means of facilitating or interfering 
with progress. In learning to use the typewriter one makes 
associations between the sight and the thought of the letters, 
and the keys which are to be pressed; or in learning to play 
the piano, one associates the notes on the score with the 
keys on the piano. In learning to spell one associates the 
idea of a word with the group of letters which represent it 
on the printed or written page. In all of these cases the 
formation of these simpler associations will facilitate prog- 
ress. The formation of the individual association is not 
the whole matter. One must also learn to put the individual 
associations together into groups, as we saw in the descrip- 
tion of learning to use the typewriter; but the association 



TRANSFER OF TRAINING 273 

between the sight of an a and the pressing of a key is com- 
mon to writing the word and, and the word hat, the word 
man, and so on. This association will, if learned in one con- 
nection as in writing one particular word, be useful when it 
is transferred to a somewhat different set of associations. 
If one learns to spell words in a column test it will enable 
him the better to spell words in composition. There is thus 
a transfer of associations from one situation to another. 
Other cases of transfer of the same general nature we assume 
as a matter of course. If one learns to recognize a word in 
one connection, he will be able to recognize the word in an- 
other connection with a probability of some loss due to 
change of association. If one learns the meaning of a series 
of foreign words in a vocabulary, he will be able to inter- 
pret the meaning of those words again, with some loss due 
to the changed surroundings, when he reads them in a con- 
text. And so we may assume in general that the presence of 
elements of this sort in two situations will serve to make the 
training in one facilitate progress in the other. 

The relationship of the elements which are common to 
two forms of learning is often the most important thing. 
We see from a survey of the different way in which elements 
may combine in different kinds of bodily and mental activity 
that no single formula can be used to predict what will be the 
result. We must know not merely what the elements are in 
the two cases, but in a still more important degree we must 
know what the relationship of the elements in the different 
situations is. In some cases the presence of the same ele- 
ment may assist learning and in other cases it may be a 
hindrance. It is necessary to examine each form of learning 
for itself and to determine how far elements which have 
been learned in previous experiences may be of assistance, 
or how far they may be a hindrance. 



274 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

6. Transfer through development of attitudes 
Illustration from attention. The relationship between 
a mental function or an activity in different situations is 
not by any means adequately described when we have 
traced certain common elements in the different cases. 
Another very important kind of relationship or union be- 
tween various applications of a mental function is due to the 
fact that there is developed by means of the exercise of the 
mental function a more general attitude or set of mind, as 
well as a series of particular habits. A variety of illustrations 
of this principle may be found. We may take one from the 
experiment of Coover and Angell which has already been 
mentioned. The explanation of the transfer from training 
in discrimination of sound to improvement in discrimination 
of shades of gray was that the learners acquired the ability 
better to direct their attention. This consisted in a large 
measure in the attitude which they developed toward dis- 
traction. A person may learn instantly to turn his attention 
away from a stimulus which would distract him from the 
task which he has in mind, and when he has developed this 
attitude of mind, he has acquired an important condition of 
efficiency in mental work. 

Apperception is largely due to attitudes which are de- 
veloped. The attitude which is developed through educa- 
tion may be expressed in paying attention to certain things 
rather than others. It is a commonplace of observation 
that different persons who are confronted by the same ob- 
jects may see very different things in them. We have be- 
come familiar with this process under the name appercep- 
tion. We say that a person sees in a thing what he has been 
prepared to see by his previous experience or his cast of 
mind. Thus through the training of one's profession one 
acquires the habit of picking out certain things to pay at- 



TRANSFER OF TRAINING 275 

tention to and to think about. A physician notes the signs 
of disease, the teacher pays particular attention to children 
and their characteristics, the clothing merchant notices 
particularly the dress which persons wear, and so on indefi- 
nitely. This we may describe as due to the development 
of a general attitude of mind. 

One may develop predominately an analytical, an appre- 
ciative, or a practical attitude. This development of an at- 
titude of mind may be very general in its nature. A person 
may acquire the habit of viewing things from an intellectual 
viewpoint. The questions which are aroused in his mind 
by his experiences may be largely those which are concerned 
with the explanation of the facts which he observes. We say 
that such a person is analytical. He is trying continually 
to account for the actions of persons or of the physical events 
of the world about him. Another person, on the other hand, 
may have what we call the appreciative attitude of mind. 
He may continually be seeking to weigh what he sees in 
terms of beauty or ugliness. Artists have predominantly 
this attitude of mind. If an artist sees a landscape, he picks 
out the elements of beauty or ugliness in it, whereas the 
person of the intellectual or analytical attitude of mind may 
attempt to explain the geological formation or some other 
scientific aspect of such a landscape. Still another person 
may have the practical attitude. His question may always 
be of the money value of objects which he observes or of 
the use to which they may be put in satisfying human 
needs. We have the testimony of the scientist, Charles 
Darwin, that the development of the analytical or scien- 
tific attitude of mind in his own case interfered with or 
displaced the development of the appreciative attitude. 
He remarked that while in his early years he was very 
fond of poetry, in his later years he could not endure any 
lengthy reading of this type of literature, and he deplored 



276 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

the fact that one attitude of mind has usurped the place 
of the other. 

The scientific attitude may be developed as a special 
form of the intellectual attitude. The intellectual attitude 
may also include a variety of more particular attitudes. We 
say that a person is scientific in his attitude when he is open- 
minded, when he is willing to give consideration to new facts 
or new ways of interpreting facts. We include in this scien- 
tific attitude the disposition to seek evidence before forming 
one's opinion, to verify one's conclusions instead of jumping 
at them, to substitute reason for sentimentality, and so on. 

Differences in social attitude are general in their nature. 
As a final illustration of the development of attitudes we 
may take the attitudes which a person assumes toward 
other persons. These have been referred to in the chapter 
on the social instincts of the child. For example, one may 
have predominately an attitude of dominance or one of 
submission. This is partly due to one's natural temper of 
mind, or it may be partly due to education. A person who 
has been continually treated as a slave is likely to acquire 
a submissive attitude. Again, there may be a general atti- 
tude of fairness, or of unfairness and prejudice in one's deal- 
ings with others. One may have developed the courteous 
way of treating other persons, or may be rude and discourte- 
ous. One may develop a habit of truthfulness or a habit of 
shiftiness with reference to the truth. 

General attitudes are subject to the influence of educa- 
tion. The application of these facts to the problem of the 
transfer of training raises the question of the extent to which 
they may be developed by education. One may certainly 
conclude, without going into the matter in detail, that such 
attitudes may to some extent be modified and developed by 
education. Since the experiments on transfer of training 
have dealt largely with more specialized capacities, it is 



TRANSFER OF TRAINING 277 

difficult to estimate with any degree of definiteness how far 
such attitudes of mind may be developed in general, and 
how far when they are developed they become a part of 
one's attitude toward all situations. In some cases it is de- 
sirable that they should not be applied to all situations. 
The case of Darwin suggests the conclusion that it may 
be desirable in some measure to develop various attitudes 
each of which might be manifested with reference to the 
particular kind of situation in which it is appropriate. One 
could develop the appreciative attitude toward poetry, 
music, and art in general, and the scientific attitude to- 
ward facts of science, which are to be apprehended through 
rational processes. It is a mistake to develop either atti- 
tude in the situation for which the other is appropriate. 
There is therefore in some cases too much or too general 
transfer of training in attitudes of mind. 

Mental control is a general attitude which may be in- 
creased by education. In the next chapter a type of mental 
attitude which has not been included in this survey will be 
dwelt upon, which is of large importance, and which un- 
doubtedly can be developed. This is an attitude which we 
may describe in general terms as one of mental control, and 
its opposite consists in various forms of lack of control which 
are manifested in either temporary or permanent nervous- 
ness, lack of self-confidence, etc. That these are amenable to 
treatment is the general opinion of experts in this field. 

Conclusion regarding attitudes. We may conclude that 
attitudes of mind of this sort are among the more important 
means by which different particular mental functions are 
brought into relationship to one another; and although we 
cannot at the present time define the exact degree to which 
they are subject to training, yet it is undoubtedly true that 
they are to a large extent so susceptible. 

Self-conscious attitudes or ideals. General attitudes of 



278 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

mind which are still more definitely under control of educa- 
tion may be developed. In the above description of attitudes 
nothing has been said regarding the person's knowledge that 
he possesses these attitudes. Such attitudes of mind may 
exist in a person without his thinking particularly about it. 
We may, however, contrast such cases with those cases in 
which a person not only develops an attitude of mind, but 
also becomes conscious of it, and deliberately attempts to 
develop or modify it. A person may not only learn to be in- 
dustrious but he may learn to value industry. He may de- 
velop the ideal of industry. This ideal consists in the notion 
that industry is worthier and more valuable than sloth and is 
therefore desirable. Many of the attitudes which are de- 
scribed in the previous section may be ideals, as well as un- 
conscious attitudes. 

Illustration from the ideal of accuracy in manual training. 
The development of an ideal, and its transfer to other situa- 
tions than the one in connection with which it was originally 
developed, may be illustrated in the matter of accuracy. 
Suppose that a student in the manual training shop has 
learned that in order that boards may be fitted together in 
accordance with the plan, they must be sawn and planed ac- 
curately. If the work is not done accurately the article 
which is being made will clearly show it. The result of in- 
accuracy will then strike the attention of the student, and if 
he is at all awake to the results of his experience, he will real- 
ize that in the field of manual training, at least, it is neces- 
sary to work with care and precision. In other words, the 
student has developed an idea of the value of a particular 
quality of mind and action. In the future when he is con- 
fronted with a problem of the same sort, he may strive to 
work with greater accuracy because of the fact that he has 
realized its value in his past experience. This will not mean 
that he will be capable at a stroke of equaling the accuracy 



TRANSFER OF TRAINING 279 

of a skilled worker, but it will mean that the idea of its value 
will so stimulate him that he will improve more rapidly in 
skill than he otherwise would. The extent to which he is 
able to generalize on his experience will determine the breadth 
of the application which he can make of this idea. He may- 
apply it only to manual training, or he may apply it to other 
sorts of study, or to other sorts of work in general. This is an 
illustration of the statement which was made earlier that 
training may result in transfer or it may not, according to 
the attitude of the learner. 

7. General ideas which illuminate the mode of procedure 
Ideas of method are more specific guides in learning than 
mere ideals. The development of an ideal or an idea of value 
in one task stimulates the learner to attempt to attain results 
which are esteemed valuable in other tasks which he has to 
perform. It does not, however, give him information as to 
the method by which he can best obtain the improved 
ability. It furnishes him with the motive to attempt to 
attain a particular kind of ability, or to choose one kind of 
response to a situation in contrast to another. To recur to 
our example, the ideal may lead him to choose to make the 
effort to be careful and accurate, in place of being careless 
and inaccurate. It may lead him to attempt to work indus- 
triously and persistently in place of making half-hearted and 
spasmodic efforts. But in addition to such stimulus to effort, 
training may also affect the learner's responses in a general 
way by giving him ideas regarding the best mode of pro- 
cedure to attain the result he desires. Assuming that one is 
aware of the value of certain attainments, these ideas will 
indicate how most quickly to attain the result. 

Illustrations of transfer through ideas of method. The de- 
velopment of the idea of a mode of procedure as distinguished 
from the idea of the value of the result may be illustrated 



280 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

from modes of learning which have been already described. 
It has been shown that in memorizing it is more economical 
to distribute one's time and practice into comparatively 
short periods, and to allow some interval of time between 
periods of practice. One may learn this better mode of dis- 
tribution of time as a result of his attempt to memorize, and 
he may then apply the same method of procedure to other 
forms of learning. One may also discover in his experiments 
in learning that it is necessary to acquire the ability to avoid 
distraction, and he may then apply the knowledge of this 
principle to every form of learning which he undertakes. He 
may discover also that it is desirable to disregard fatigue or 
its symptoms up to a certain point, but that under certain 
circumstances, or beyond a certain point, the feelings of 
weariness which accumulate should be taken into account. 
Finally one may discover and confirm in one's experience the 
principles of scientific method, and may then apply these 
principles in other fields of work. 

Training in general principles may be much more widely 
applied than narrow technical training. In addition to no- 
tions of the best methods of procedure, the learner may also 
develop ideas regarding the principles which govern the ma- 
terial or the subject-matter with which he is working, and 
may so generalize these principles that he will be able to 
apply them broadly, at least within the field of the general 
subject which he is studying. Judd's experiment with the 
dart throwing illustrates this kind of general notion and the 
way in which it may be applied to produce transfer of train- 
ing. In general, the person who develops such principles as 
a result of his experience is the one who has had a broad 
scientific training in his subject rather than a narrow, rule of 
thumb sort of training. We may distinguish the artisan who 
has learned to perform a number of particular processes and 
has become skilled in them, but is not acquainted with the 



TRANSFER OF TRAINING 281 

more general principles of his work, from the person of broad 
training, such as the engineer, who is not merely skilled — 
or perhaps not skilled at all — in performing the various 
details of work in his field, but who has such a grasp of general 
principles that he can attack new problems and develop a 
new method of dealing with them. A person of the narrow 
kind of training would be able to repair a machine with which 
he was familiar, or which was rather similar to one with 
which he was familiar; but one who had the broader training 
would be able to apply his knowledge to repairing any kind of 
machine, or at least a very much wider variety of kinds of 
machines. 

We may apply the same distinction to methods of training 
teachers. One method which may be pursued in training 
teachers is to give the teacher a large number of rules 
of thumb to direct his method of teaching each subject in 
detail, or to give rules for the administration of the class- 
room and for all of the particular duties which have to be 
performed. On the other hand, the training may be of such 
a sort that it will give the teacher an appreciation of the 
general problems of education so far as they affect the class- 
room work; for example, an insight into the mode in which the 
child attains his mental development, the kind of develop- 
ment which takes place in the various kinds of study, or the 
differences in development which one may expect in different 
children. 

Both general and specific training are desirable. Both of 
these kinds of training are desirable. If the teacher is given 
merely a series of rules of thumb, he will be at a loss when 
these rules do not apply, or will find it difficult to know how 
to apply the rules in individual cases. The teacher in this 
case will have a training which may fit him for a special set 
of circumstances but which will not give a preparation for 
dealing with a large variety of circumstances or for applying 



282 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

the results of the experiences in one case to other cases. On 
the other hand, a training which is merely general in its char- 
acter such as that which is got from a study of educational 
psychology, leaves the teacher' who begins with this prepara- 
tion alone with the necessity of working out the methods of 
applying the principles in detail. This means that there is 
some loss of time and waste of energy in acquiring devices 
and specialized methods. Both sorts of training are neces- 
sary, but the point that is here made is that the training in 
broad general principles is the kind which will enable the 
student to carry over the result of experience in one field to 
other fields of endeavor. 

8. The application of the facts of transfer 
Both the amount and the importance of transferred train- 
ing must be considered. It may be accepted as a sound con- 
clusion that training is to a greater or less extent general in 
its scope. Several principles should be taken into account 
in attempting to work out the practical application of this 
conclusion. The first one has already been mentioned in a 
previous paragraph. We cannot judge of the value of the 
general effect of special training merely upon a knowledge of 
the percentage of improvement which occurs in a related 
field as a result of training in another field. We must also 
know how important this transferred effect is, and whether 
it could be attained more effectively in this or in some other 
form of training. If a form of general training is very de- 
sirable, and if it cannot be more effectively or more econom- 
ically developed in some other way, then the effort to reach it 
through a particular kind of training, or through the teaching 
of a particular subject, may be justified, even although the 
amount of development in general intellectual ability which 
comes as a result is very minute. Thus if a person as a result 
of scientific training develops even to a slight degree a general 



TRANSFER OF TRAINING 283 

idea of the scientific attitude or of the scientific method, so 
that he can apply it in the general problems of his life, the 
result may justify the effort which has been expended. If 
such an idea leads a person, as a citizen, to endeavor a little 
more carefully to get at the real facts of the social or political 
situation, in order to enable him to vote intelligently, the 
value of the result will be very great. It may be sufficient 
to decide his choice in an important election. 

Both specific and general training are necessary. On the 
other hand, to use the illustration which has just been cited, 
because a general scientific training might make a person 
more judicial in his survey of civic facts, and might enable 
him to vote more intelligently, this would not justify a neglect 
of more specific training which would have more direct bear- 
ing upon the problems of citizenship. This illustrates the 
error of substituting general training for more specific train- 
ing in those cases in which the specific training could be 
given and would be of value to a large number of pupils. 
General training is not to be considered a satisfactory sub- 
stitute for special training in those cases in which we know the 
sort of special training which is appropriate and can give this 
training to the pupil. 

Considerations of formal training should probably not 
often be a deciding factor in the choice of studies. In order 
to determine what subjects shall be included in the course of 
study it is always necessary to consider the specific or direct 
value to the pupils of the skill or knowledge which they gain 
in their pursuit. Reading is taught in the school because it is 
highly important for the pupil to be able to read in gaining 
further education, and in pursuing his business and recrea- 
tion in after life. Music and literature are included because 
the enjoyment of these arts contribute to the pleasure and 
contentment of the individual and to his human sympathy 
and understanding. And so we might catalogue the valuable 



284 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

results in specific attainment which are produced in the study 
of various subjects. But the presence of certain subjects, for 
example grammar, the ancient languages, much of mathe- 
matics, and to some extent science and manual training, has 
often been justified, not because of their direct, bat of their 
transferred value. But the possibility of generalized training 
is not confined to certain subjects. All subjects possess it at 
least in some degree. The degree of generalized training to 
be gained from a subject is more dependent on the way it is 
organized and taught than upon the subject itself. To justify 
the introduction or retention of a subject which has little or 
no direct value, then, it is necessary to show that its value 
for general training is overwhelmingly greater than that of 
its rivals. In spite of our conclusion that general training is 
a fact, and an important one, it is questionable whether it is 
of sufficient importance by itself to decide the choice of 
subjects unless it is combined with large direct value. 

The appropriate kind of general training in each subject 
should be emphasized. The fact that general training does 
not result automatically from the teaching of subjects but 
only results when the subject is taught in a certain way, 
means that the teacher, in the selection of topics, and the 
mode of presentation of the topics, or the kind of work 
which shall be assigned to the student, must take into ac- 
count the general result as well as the special knowledge or 
skill which is to be developed by the study. This means also 
that the teacher must carefully consider the kind of general 
training which should be expected from a particular study. 
One should not expect to develop any great appreciation of 
beauty from the study of mathematics, or the development 
of the scientific method from the study of literature. Each 
subject of study has its own appropriate kind of mental atti- 
tude which is to be developed in it. While in any particular 
subject there may be opportunity for the development of a 



TRANSFER OF TRAINING 285 

great variety of attitudes, yet most of these are of such minor 
importance in any one particular study, that not much 
general result can be expected from their development. It 
is necessary then to get clearly in mind the form of general 
training which is to be expected from any particular subject 
and so present it that this type of general training will be 
most effectively produced. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. Illustrate the difference between form and content in learning. 

2. If no transfer of training is found in a particular experiment, what is 
indicated with reference to the possibility of transfer? 

3. What is the practical application of the fact that the amount of transfer 
is usually small? Does it mean that the transfer of ability is not im- 
portant? 

4. What is the practical application of the fact that the amount of trans- 
fer varies with the conditions? 

5. What does negative transfer or interference show with reference to the 
view that the mind is made up of many highly independent ele- 
ments? 

6. Does an association, as represented by spelling a word, carry over with- 
out loss from one set of circumstances to another? For example, is a 
word which is learned in a column test always spelled correctly in 
sentences? 

7. Name a specific attitude which is formed when the student learns to 
concentrate his attention. 

8. How, in general, are attitudes, such as the analytical or the apprecia- 
tive, formed? What produces them? 

9. Is it always desirable to make attitudes self-conscious? 

10. What is the effect of making attitudes self-conscious upon the extent 
to which they become general? 

11. What is the limitation upon the successful generalization of ideas of 
method? May such generalization ever be disadvantageous? 

12. Discuss the illustration from James given in the quotation from Judd 
in the early part of the chapter from the point of view of the specializa- 
tion of scientific training. 

13. Should teacher training be entirely specific, or may the teacher legiti- 
mately be left to make some of the application of general principles? 



HOW CHILDREN LEARN 



SELECTED REFERENCES 

Angell, J. R., Judd, C. H., and Pillsbury, W. B. A series of three articles 

on "Formal Discipline" in The Educational Review, vol. 36, pp. 1-42. 

(June, 1908.) 
Darwin, Chas. Autobiography, in Francis Darwin, Life and Letters of Charles 

Darwin, vol. 1, p. 81. (D. Appleton & Co., 1887.) 
Heck, W. H. Mental Discipline and Educational Values. (Lane, 1911.) 
Judd, C. H. Psychology of High School Subjects, chap. xvn. (Ginn & Co., 

1915.) 
Rugg, H. O. The Experimental Determination of Mental Discipline in School 

Studies. (Warwick & York, 1916.) 
Thorndike, E. L. Educational Psychology, vol. 2, The Psychology of Learning. 

(Teachers College, Columbia University, 1913.) 



CHAPTER XIV 

MENTAL ECONOMY AND CONTROL, MENTAL HYGIENE 

This chapter deals with economy in mental energy. In 
discussing the most effective methods of learning, we con- 
sidered to some extent the question of mental economy, — ■ 
that is, we raised the question as to the most economical way 
in which one's time and energy can be applied in order to 
produce the most rapid learning. We may also raise this 
question with reference to accomplishment in general as 
well as with reference to rapidity of improvement. We shall 
therefore in this chapter discuss those principles which 
govern the most effective or economical performance of men- 
tal work, whether it has to do with improvement, or with 
accomplishment at a particular level of ability. We may also 
raise somewhat more general questions which are appropriate 
to the topic of mental hygiene. How may we avoid friction 
or waste of energy through useless acts or useless feelings or 
emotions? How may we avoid any sort of expenditure of 
energy which has no fruitful result? 

1. Fatigue 
Mental economy was formerly thought of chiefly as the 
avoidance of fatigue. This subject of mental economy was 
formerly approached largely through the study of fatigue. 
Work was thought of as producing a certain definite amount 
of fatigue, proportional to the amount or the strenuousness 
of the work. Fatigue was regarded as the loss of a certain 
definite amount of energy which could be measured. From 
this point of view the determination of the principles of men- 
tal economy would consist in finding out the amount of 



288 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

fatigue which was produced by work of various sorts or 
under various conditions, and the best method which might 
be used to avoid or minimize fatigue. 

Typical studies of fatigue are those of Griesbach and 
Kraepelin. This problem was applied to education in the 
investigation of the German scientist Griesbach, who at- 
tempted to measure the fatigue in school children at various 
times during the day by measuring the fineness of discrimi- 
nation between two points of contact on the skin. Griesbach 
thought that he could measure accurately the loss of mental 
energy resulting from school work by this method. Later 
studies, however, showed that the ability of the school child 
did not drop off in anything like the manner that Griesbach 
thought had been determined by his studies. Another appli- 
cation of the investigations of fatigue has been made by the 
German scientist, Kraepelin, and his followers, who have 
attempted to account for the changes in the efficiency with 
which one works at different parts of the work period or the 
practice period, by analyzing the total output of work as 
due to changes in fatigue, in practice, in warming up, in 
spurting, and so on. This work throws some light on the 
causes of changes in efficiency and indicates that fatigue is 
only one of these causes. 

Winch, Thorndike, and Heck find that fatigue is less than 
is commonly supposed. Fatigue is undoubtedly one of the 
factors which affects the efficiency of our work; but recent 
studies with school children have indicated that the amount 
of fatigue which we may expect to appear as a result of the 
ordinary work of the school day is much less than was for- 
merly supposed. Winch, in England, found that children 
who practiced solving arithmetic problems on successive 
days in the early forenoon gained about 5 per cent more 
than another group which practiced in the late forenoon. 
Heck gave tests to school children at four periods during 



MENTAL ECONOMY AND HYGIENE 



289 



the day; between 9 a.m. and 9.30 a.m., between 11 a.m. and 
11.30 a.m., shortly after 1 p.m. and about 2.30 p.m. It ap- 
pears from this experiment that the amount of work done 
increased in the later periods while the accuracy decreased, 
but there does not appear to be any large decrease in effi- 
ciency due to fatigue. The following table shows typical 
results from one school : — 

Table V. The Percentage of Efficiency of School- 
Children at Four Periods, taking the Performance at 
the First Period as 100 per cent 





Periods 




1 


2 


3 


i 


Amount done 


100 
100 


100.72 
96.69 


103.63 
95.64 


101.70 




96 38 







Fatigue is measured by the decrease of efficiency due to 
activity. In order to estimate properly the meaning of these 
new facts and to decide how important fatigue is in reducing 
our mental efficiency, we must get clearly in mind what is 
meant by the term fatigue. Mental fatigue may be taken to 
mean several different things. In its most accurate and 
technical sense it means the falling off in the ability to do 
mental work either in accuracy, or in speed, or in a combina- 
tion of both, as a result of mental or physical exercise. The 
term is ordinarily applied to the result of mental rather than 
physical work. Fatigue in this sense could be measured by 
comparing the amount of work which one can do at the be- 
ginning and at the end of a day of continued activity, or by 
comparing the amount one can do at the beginning and the 
end of a week. This simple comparison does not take account 
of any difference that might occur through practice. Hence 



290 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

if a person is improving rapidly in his ability in the work he 
is performing, it is necessary to allow for this and to com- 
pare not merely the work at the beginning of the day with 
the end of the same day, but also the end of the day's work 
with the beginning of the next day's work after rest; or the 
end of the week with the beginning of the next week after an 
interval of rest. 

Fatigue in the strict sense is to be distinguished from the 
feeling of weariness. This method does not measure what 
we very often mean by fatigue; and the studies which have 
been made of fatigue in the laboratory do not take account 
of some of the results of work which we ordinarily think of 
when we say that we are fatigued. We commonly refer by 
this word not merely to the diminished efficiency of our work 
but also to the feelings of weariness which result from con- 
tinued work. These feelings of weariness are admitted to 
have an effect upon one's ability to do work, but in the lab- 
oratory test their effect is undoubtedly much less than it is 
in the ordinary work in which one is not undergoing a spe- 
cial test. While the diminution in efficiency which is shown 
or appears at the end of an ordinary day's work might be less 
if one attempted to work at his top speed, yet it is a real 
diminution and is to be reckoned as the ordinary result of 
the feelings of weariness which appear in work which is not 
done under laboratory conditions. It is worth while to have 
discovered, however, that one may to a certain extent dis- 
regard these feelings and that one's work may not necessarily 
diminish to the same extent that it does in everyday life be- 
cause of the unpleasant feelings which are produced by work. 

The course of physical fatigue is relatively simple, as 
shown by experiments with the ergograph. The difference 
between the modern and the older view of fatigue is partly 
to be explained by the fact that the earliest studies had to do 
with physical fatigue, and that the course of physical fatigue, 



MENTAL ECONOMY AND HYGIENE 291 

at least so far as it has been measured, seems to be different 
from that of mental fatigue. The classical experiment on 
physical fatigue was made by the Italian scientist, Mosso, 
who used an instrument called the ergograph, by which he 
could measure the ability of a person to raise a weight with 
one finger. The experiment is conducted by requiring a per- 
son to raise a weight repeatedly either as rapidly as he can or 
at a certain regular interval. If the weight is sufficient to 
necessitate considerable effort, the height to which it is to be 
raised rapidly diminishes until finally one is unable for a time 
to raise it at all. 

The course of mental fatigue is more complex. The 
change in efficiency in mental work throughout a period of 
work is very much less simple than this. Sometimes one's 
score rises throughout the period of work instead of falling, 
as we should expect it to do as the result of fatigue. Some- 
times it falls rapidly at the beginning, then rises and falls 
toward the end. Sometimes there is a gradual falling toward 
the end and then a rise just before the end. There are also 
differences according to the kind of work or the individual 
peculiarity of the worker. 

Various factors contribute to the decrease in efficiency of 
mental work. There is not space here to go into details in the 
discussion of the causes of these various changes in the work 
curve. We may say, however, that the curve is very largely 
governed by one's attitude toward the work, as well as by 
his ability. Interest may cause the curve to rise or the falling 
off of interest may cause it to drop. When one has worked 
for several hours, he may become bored with what he is do- 
ing and be very desirous of dropping it and doing something 
else. If he is furnished with some new interest or some new 
reason for putting forth effort, he may show that his ability 
has fallen off very little, if any. This distaste for work is due 
partly to physical conditions. There may be an accumula- 



292 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

tion of restlessness which results in an impulse to get up and 
move about, if the work is such as requires sitting or re- 
maining in the same position. The mere continuance of an 
activity of the same sort seems to cause a desire to do some- 
thing different even though it is another kind of work. In the 
chapter on transfer of training we saw that general training 
in mental work consists partly in learning to disregard dis- 
tractions which arise from such impulses as these. 

The child should gradually learn to work persistently. 
When applying these facts to the conduct of work of the 
pupils in the school, it is clear that we must be careful not to 
conclude too readily that the pupil's real ability to work has 
fallen off as a result of his school work. Before such a con- 
clusion is drawn, we must have taken care to see that the 
pupil's interest is maintained and that he is given sufficient 
motive to put forth effort in his work. The pupil needs to 
be trained gradually to disregard the slight inconveniences 
which appear as a result of prolonged work, just as does the 
adult worker. On the other hand, we must make allowance 
for the greater sensitiveness of the child to the distractions 
which would divert his mind from his work, and his less 
ability to work in spite of them. It would be a mistake to 
conclude that the child is able to maintain the same level of 
efficient work as the adult person under the conditions of a 
laboratory experiment. 

Fatigue probably affects some kinds of work more than 
Others. We must also recognize, in applying these facts to 
school work, that a small amount of fatigue may have a 
widely different effect upon- some kinds of work than upon 
others. In all probability it will affect very much more new 
forms of learning and those which are difficult, than the per- 
formance of work in which the individual is fairly well prac- 
ticed, or which is easy for him. For this reason, although the 
fatigue at the end of the day is not great, it is necessary to 



MENTAL ECONOMY AND HYGIENE 293 

take it into account in arranging the program of the day so 
that the easier studies come toward the end. It is impossible 
to say what subjects should be put at the end since no stud- 
ies of sufficient accuracy have been made to determine which 
are most affected by fatigue. 

Weariness is not to be completely ignored. It is necessary 
to consider the significance of the feelings of weariness as 
indicative of the effect of work upon health or upon the 
permanent physical condition as well as upon immediate 
efficiency. It is possible that one may be able to disregard 
feelings of weariness and maintain his efficiency for the time 
being, and still be overworking, or be injuriously affecting 
his health. It is necessary to consider this particularly with 
children. The problem of health is of double importance in 
their case. The impairment of health in the child does not 
merely mean temporary loss of efficiency, but also means a 
loss in growth and development. The problem before us is 
to know when the feelings of weariness have reached a point 
at which one should pay attention to them and govern one's 
work according to them, and when, on the contrary, it is 
necessary to disregard them, and work energetically in spite 
of them. 

Permanent weariness is a sign of a harmful degree of 
fatigue. There are several ways in which we can learn to 
discriminate between the feelings of weariness which should 
be ignored and those which are symptoms of debilitated 
bodily condition, and therefore need to be heeded by a modi- 
fication of the conditions of work. In the first place we may 
distinguish between a temporary feeling which does not 
remain from one day to another and a more permanent feel- 
ing which lasts for days and weeks and seems to be independ- 
ent of the amount of work which is done. A permanent feel- 
ing of lassitude, particularly if it appears in the morning 
before any work has been done, is likely to be a sign which 



294 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

should be given careful attention. This, of course, is to be 
distinguished from the slight feeling of lassitude which oc- 
curs on first rising in the morning before one is fully awake 
or before the circulation has become vigorous. In the case 
of the school child it is not difficult to recognize permanent 
weariness, since by the time work is fairly started the early 
morning lassitude should have disappeared. 

Undue fatigue is manifested also in physical symptoms. If 
there is doubt as to whether a feeling of weariness is due to 
an injurious effect of overwork or of work under the wrong 
conditions, or whether it is due merely to a natural result 
of work, or even of laziness, the feelings can be checked up 
by certain other symptoms. If one is overworking, the effect 
will be seen commonly in more strictly physical symptoms. 
It may be seen in the loss of appetite, in the poor assimila- 
tion or digestion of food, in loss of weight or in ansemia. If 
a permanent feeling of lassitude is accompanied by some of 
these physical signs, there is reason to believe either that one 
is overworking or that the conditions under which one works 
are not correct, — that is, that one is not living under the 
correct general conditions of hygiene. It is therefore desir- 
able to keep a record of the child's height, weight and phys- 
ical condition in order to detect signs of overwork. 

2. Planning and organizing work 
The feeling of weariness is a factor to be considered in 
planning work, but not in carrying out the plan. The sug- 
gestion that feelings of weariness are to be checked up by 
noticing whether they are temporary or permanent and by 
taking account of physical symptoms, leads to the remark 
that such feelings should be taken account of, not while one 
is working, for the purpose of enabling one to decide whether 
he should continue or break off work at a particular time, but 
that they should rather be taken account of at only the time 



MENTAL ECONOMY AND HYGIENE 295 

when one is planning one's work. This is the solution of the 
problem which is raised by the necessity of taking due ac- 
count of the feelings of weariness without at the same time 
allowing them to have an injurious effect upon one's con- 
centration and efficiency. One who is continually examining 
his feelings while he is working, to find out whether they are 
of such a sort as to justify stopping work or taking a rest, has 
destroyed the fundamental conditions for efficient work. 
He creates for himself all sorts of imaginary feelings, and ex- 
aggerates those feelings which he has to such a degree as to 
make it utterly impossible to decide what the significance 
of his feelings are. It is, however, entirely justifiable to take 
account of one's feelings in planning work, since they can 
then be seen in their proper perspective. 

Children should gradually learn to plan their work. The 
application of this principle to the education of children in 
habits of work means that they should not be encouraged to 
pay any attention to their feelings of weariness which are 
caused by their work until they have reached the point where 
they begin to plan their own work schedule. Before this time 
the teacher or parent must decide from the objective symp- 
toms how much the child can endure without injury. The 
child may be given some responsibility for planning some 
of his work in the upper years of the elementary school 
period when he begins to do home work. Here and in the 
high school he should learn to study himself and find out 
the conditions under which he can do work of the largest 
amount and best quality. 

Plans should include due amounts of rest, recreation, ex- 
ercise, and food. In planning work either for one's self or 
for a group of children, one should make provision for all the 
necessary conditions of health as well as of accomplishment. 
For this purpose it is necessary to provide not merely for the 
hours of work, but also for due amount and proper distribu- 



296 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

tion of rest, recreation, exercise, and food. The amount of 
food, rest, exercise, and work which is important for differ- 
ent persons differs, and it differs for children of different ages. 
One should determine what the best amount is in each case 
by experimentation. Each person needs to determine this 
for himself. He cannot merely apply to himself general rules, 
although these may serve as a rough guide. 

Plans should be tested consistently and only modified de- 
liberately. The proper procedure is to make out a tentative 
plan and then try this plan for a certain length of time, — a 
week or a month, — and see how it works with reference to 
feelings of well-being, and with reference to the more exter- 
nal symptoms which have been mentioned, and to the quality 
of the work which one is able to perform. If at the end of the 
set period it seems desirable to modify the schedule in some 
way, this should be done, and then the modified schedule 
tried out in the same manner. While the schedule is being 
worked, one should give one's whole mind to the thing 
which is being done in the time which is assigned for it. In 
this way one will attain concentration of mind and at the 
same time avoid the danger of overdoing at the expense of 
health. 

Planning work promotes concentration. A plan of work 
should include a schedule of the kind of work which is to be 
done in different periods as well as a schedule of periods dur- 
ing which the work shall be done. The reason for planning 
in detail both the general and the detailed schedule is that 
this makes possible a greater concentration of attention. 
The difficulty which arises when the work is not definitely 
planned is that one cannot settle down to a particular task 
with the highest degree of calm. If the worker has not deter- 
mined beforehand how long he will work, he will before long 
begin to raise the question with himself whether he has 
worked long enough. As soon as lie has begun this process, 



MENTAL ECONOMY AND HYGIENE 297 

his mind is divided, and efficient work for the rest of the 
period is prevented. Somewhat the same difficulty arises 
when one has not beforehand decided what work shall be 
done in a given period. If both elements have been deter- 
mined beforehand, one has the assurance in taking up a cer- 
tain task that there will be time to accomplish it, and further 
that there will be time to accomplish the other tasks. 

Preoccupation with the present task is a condition of 
healthy-mindedness. Such an orderly procedure as this, be- 
cause of the fact that it makes possible more concentrated 
work and a calmer attitude of mind, makes the work less 
fatiguing. It reduces the inner friction which leads to nerv- 
ousness and to the unnecessary application of effort with- 
out corresponding results in accomplishment. The single- 
minded absorption in what one is doing makes for mental 
health in general as well as for efficient work in a particu- 
lar task. We may lay it down as a general principle that 
in order that one should be healthy-minded it is necessary 
to be chiefly absorbed in the present, and in performing 
one's present duties, rather than to be preoccupied with 
the past or with the future. A good illustration of the 
harmful consequences of preoccupation with either the 
past or the future may be taken from the game of golf. 

Illustration from golf. It is a matter of common knowl- 
edge among golf players that a poor stroke is apt to have a 
very much more serious consequence than that which follows 
merely from the lowering of the score by that one stroke, or 
by its objective consequences. The reason that a poor stroke 
is often serious is that the player is not able to forget it. It 
might be very easy to overcome it without any loss in score 
at all; but, after the player has made such a stroke, the 
worry which ensues in his mind leads him to make a whole 
series of other poor strokes, and this seriously lowers his 
score. If he could have entirely forgotten the poor stroke, he 



298 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

might have completely overcome the disadvantage which it 
caused. An illustration of preoccupation with the future may 
also be taken from golf. If a player has proceeded most of the 
way around the course and has made an unusually good score, 
he is apt to begin to look forward to a final low score. He 
conjures up in his mind visions of breaking his record or of 
surprising his friends with the low score which he is to make. 
As soon as this idea takes possession of his mind his game is 
very liable to suffer seriously ; and it frequently happens that 
while one might with ordinary play get a very low score, the 
appearance of such an idea causes one's game to go to pieces 
completely. The general principle, of which all golf players 
are aware, is that, in order to play well, it is necessary that 
one be absorbed in the thing he is doing at the moment, 
rather than be preoccupied with any more remote considera- 
tion either of a pleasant or an unpleasant sort. This point 
is put very clearly by Jerome D. Travers, open golf champion 
of the United States: "There is one thing that has helped 
me more in the match play than any other factor, and that is 
to play each shot by itself — to forget what has gone and 
think only of the shot immediately before you." x 

Illustrations from pathological cases. The harmfulness 
of preoccupation of either a pleasant or an unpleasant sort is 
seen in extreme forms in cases of mental pathology. The 
melancholic person is one who is so absorbed in his painful 
brooding over the possible evil consequences of any attempt 
which he may make that his vigor is destroyed and he is in- 
capable of strenuous effort of any sort. On the other hand, 
the light-hearted, irresponsible person whose time is mainly 
occupied in building air castles, is incapable of engaging in 
serious endeavor, because he finds such mental dissipation 
more agreeable than attacking the difficulties of an actual 
situation. These cases represent extremes, but it is possible 
1 American Magazine, July, 1915. 



MENTAL ECONOMY AND HYGIENE 299 

to find illustrations of a less serious effect upon one's effi- 
ciency of either unpleasant or pleasant preoccupation with 
the past or the future, instead of absorption in the present. 

Practice mental economy by doing a thing but once. It 
has become the fashion since attention has been given to effi- 
ciency in work, to post upon one's desk brief mottoes which 
epitomize principles of economy. One such motto is the often 
met Do it now. A very important principle is contained in this 
simple direction. We waste numberless hours in thinking 
about duties and tasks and then putting them off. Each time 
we reconsider the matter and put it off more energy is 
wasted. In the meantime the task begins to look harder and 
harder, and a persistent vague consciousness of it prevents 
whole-hearted devotion to the matters in hand. Sometimes 
such postponement is necessary, but usually it is a source of 
unnecessary weakness. By doing a task at the appropriate 
time it is done only once, but by putting it off it is in effect 
done many times. 

" The philosophy of the flat-top desk." In this apt phrase 
a writer in a periodical some years ago summed up a principle 
which he said had transformed his method of work from in- 
efficiency to efficiency. With the use of a roller-top desk had 
grown up the habit of never finishing his tasks — of accumu- 
lating a great mass of material on his desk which represented 
unfinished work, and then of escaping from the challenge of 
this work by pulling down the cover. A happy inspiration 
showed him that his difficulty was due to a procrastination 
which caused him to shrink from facing his problems and 
tasks and having it out with them; and in order to force him- 
self to a revolution of his habit he adopted the flat-top desk, 
which had to be cleared off every night before he stopped 
work. 

Taking stock of the past and forecasting the future has an 
essential place. It is, of course, not to be concluded that a per- 



300 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

son should be like the brute, incapable of imagination, and 
unable to modify his action in accordance with his past ex- 
periences or to direct his conduct. by anticipating its future 
consequences. What is meant is that the backward or the 
forward look is chiefly to be taken when one is viewing one's 
life from a more or less detached standpoint, • — when one is 
not in the midst of the execution of the work. Such is the 
occasion for taking stock of the past and planning for the 
future. 

Self-consciousness hampers free and vigorous action. 
Another form of preoccupation which is very harmful in its 
effect upon efficient performance is undue thought or anxiety 
for one's self. This is so well described by Professor James, 
that we shall quote his account of the matter : — 

Now from all this we can draw an extremely practical conclusion, 
If, namely, we wish our trains of ideation and volition to be co- 
pious and varied and effective, we must form the habit of freeing 
them from the inhibitive influence of reflection upon them, of 
egoistic preoccupation about their results. Such a habit, like other 
habits, can be formed. Prudence and duty and self-regard, emo- 
tions of ambition and emotions of anxiety, have, of course, a need- 
ful part to play in our lives. But confine them as far as possible to 
the occasions when you are making your general resolutions and 
deciding upon your plan of campaign, and keep them out of the 
details. When once a decision is reached and execution is the 
order of the day, dismiss absolutely all care and responsibility 
about the outcome. Unclamp, in a word, your intellectual and 
practical machinery, and let it run free; and the service it will do you 
will be twice as good. Who are the scholars who get "rattled" in 
the recitation room? Those who think of the possibilities of failure 
and feel the great importance of the act. Who are those who recite 
well? Often those who are most indifferent. Their ideas reel them- 
selves off out of their memory of. their own accord. Why do we 
hear the complaint so often that social life in New England is either 
less rich and expressive or more fatiguing than it is in some other 
parts of the world? To what is the fact, if fact it be, due, unless to 
the overactive conscience of the people, afraid of either saying 



MENTAL ECONOMY AND HYGIENE 301 

something too trivial and obvious, or something insincere, or some- 
thing in some way or other not adequate to the occasion? How can 
conversation possibly steer itself through such a sea of responsi- 
bilities and inhibitions as this? On the other hand, conversation 
does flourish and society is refreshing, and neither dull on the one 
hand, or exhausting from its effort on the other, wherever people 
forget their scruples and take the brakes off their hearts, and let 
their tongues wag as automatically and irresponsibly as they will. 1 

The external conditions may be made an aid to concen- 
tration. We have been considering the means by which one 
may be trained to ignore distractions. It is also desirable, in 
order that the most efficient work should be done, that work 
should be so arranged that distractions themselves are 
avoided. It is unnecessary and undesirable to allow too many 
disturbing conditions. It is a law of habit that one becomes 
accustomed to working in a certain place. If one has learned 
to work at a certain desk, for example, upon sitting down at 
the desk one unconsciously adopts the attitude of w r ork. 
While it is undesirable so to hamper one's self that one cannot 
work except under certain set conditions, yet it is legitimate 
to take advantage of such helps to concentration as this. 

Special principles apply to economy in rate of improve- 
ment. We have been considering the conditions which are 
favorable to the accomplishment of a large amount of work. 
When we aim primarily, not at the accomplishment of a large 
amount, but at the improvement in ability, special principles 
are found to apply. The difference may be illustrated by 
typewriting. If the aim is to do as much typewriting as 
possible in a day, the arrangement of work should be differ- 
ent from the arrangement which is most suitable when the 
aim is to make a certain amount of work produce the great- 
est improvement in speed or in accuracy. In order to test 
the effect of the arrangement, we may measure the amount 

1 James, William. Talks to Teachers, pp. 220 ff. 



302 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

of improvement which takes place from ten hours' practice 
when those ten hours are grouped into a single period, or 
when they are distributed so that one hour is spent in prac- 
tice each day. If our aim is to accomplish the most in a day 
or a week, we will adopt a different distribution of our time 
than if our aim is to improve as rapidly as possible with a 
given expenditure of time; for it is found that, when the 
time is distributed into fairly short periods, improvement is 
more rapid than when it is concentrated into longer periods. 
In applying the principles of mental work to the school 
child, where the aim is to attain the most economical 
progress possible, and not to accomplish a large amount of 
work, it is necessary to take particular account of these 
special principles of arrangement. 

Short periods for young children and mechanical learning ; 
longer periods for older persons and rational learning. A 
number of experimental studies have been made in order to 
determine what is the most economical distribution of time 
in practice. These have not been extensive enough to deter- 
mine what the best rule is in all cases. Considerable varia- 
tion has been found according to the age of the learner, or the 
kind of work which is to be performed. For drill in number 
work with young children, a period as short as two minutes 
appears, from one study, to be most favorable; while for 
learning to make substitutions of one symbol for another as in 
learning to use a code, adults seem to find half hour periods 
at least as favorable as a shorter time. It is probable that the 
more mechanical and the more difficult a form of learning is, 
the shorter is the period which gives the most rapid improve- 
ment for a given amount of time expended. It would be 
wasteful to give an extremely short period to the study of a 
subject which involves the development of a train of con- 
nected ideas, such as geography, history or literature; but it 
is probable that in the drill subjects the shorter periods are 



MENTAL ECONOMY AND HYGIENE 303 

the most favorable. More experiments than we have should 
be made under school conditions in order to give us detailed 
information on this point. 

Slow progress from long practice periods may be due to 
various causes. The reason that periods which are too long 
give less rapid improvement than those which are shorter 
is probably to be found mainly in the fact of fatigue. As the 
learner becomes wearied with his work, he may be able to 
prevent very much decrease in the speed or in the accuracy 
of his performance; but the amount of fatigue may be suffi- 
cient to prevent the formation of new associations, and 
therefore enough to prevent any large amount of improve- 
ment in his work. It is possible also that when one continues 
work under such circumstances, the unconscious impulse to 
avoid or to escape from the increasing fatigue leads one to 
adopt other ways of performing his task than those which 
are most effective, and in this way to form wrong habits. 
The particular ways which have been found to be most 
efficient may have resulted in a special fatigue for those 
especial acts. It is also possible that during the interval be- 
tween practice periods one's nervous system continues the 
work of organization. We know that a tune often runs in the 
head in spite of our desire to banish it. It is possible also that 
the nervous changes which accompany other mental or 
physical acts are carried on in part during the intervals be- 
tween practice. In application of these principles it is appar- 
ent that it is better to carry on several of the more me- 
chanical forms of learning at once and to distribute the time 
into fairly short periods of time, rather than to concentrate 
altogether on one kind of work. 

3. The mental attitude and efficiency 
" It is intense effort which educates." We have seen that 
the organization of work into favorable periods and the 



304 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

planning of work influences the mental attitude by making 
it easier to ignore distractions. There are also certain posi- 
tive attitudes of mind which are necessary in order that the 
highest efficiency may be attained. Bryan and Harter in 
their study of the telegraphic language conclude that it is 
" only intense effort which educates." Practice which is car- 
ried on in a lazy manner, or with an indifferent attitude of 
mind, does not produce improvement. Improvement is al- 
ways at the cost of strenuous effort to rise from a lower to a 
higher plane of accomplishment. 

Effort must be rightly applied or it produces confusion. It 
is true that an intense desire to improve, especially if there 
is something at stake, is the condition of the most rapid 
progress. Not all effort, however, produces a favorable effect 
on learning. Intense effort may sometimes result not in 
better directed efforts, but rather in confusion, in making 
mistakes and therefore in retrogression. In order that effort 
may be beneficial it must be rightly applied, and this means 
that it should be applied at the proper time and in the 
proper degree. If one attempts to push on too fast at a stage 
in which his control over his movements or ideas is rather 
weak, he will become confused. This may be illustrated from 
typewriting. If the beginner attempts to write too rapidly 
he will make mistakes and form the associations of the let- 
ters with the wrong keys. Effort must be applied steadily 
aud must be applied in a discriminating way so that one shall 
continually make progress to the higher-order habits with- 
out proceeding so fast that the partially developed lower- 
order habits are broken up. 

The effort to gain concentration often produces divided 
attention. One form of the application of effort which is 
frequently met with is the attempt to concentrate the atten- 
tion. It has been implied frequently in previous chapters 
that the attention must be concentrated in order that the 



MENTAL ECONOMY AND HYGIENE 305 

work shall be efficient. This does not mean, however, that 
one can best attain concentration of attention by directly 
setting out to do so. Watt, in his Economy and Training of 
the Memory, puts the matter graphically and truly when he 
says : " Most students have a period in their life when they go 
in for concentration and come out with a headache." The 
difficulty with concentration, when it is sought for in this 
manner, is that one actually does not attain concentration 
but rather a divided attention and a strained attitude of 
mind which is unfavorable to efficiency. What the student 
does under these circumstances is to continue to think to 
himself, "Now I must keep my attention concentrated." 
He in this way is keeping half of his attention upon his at- 
tention itself, while he tries to give the other half to his 
work. What he should do is to forget all about his attention 
and give his mind wholly to the work in hand. The manner 
of doing this is to become so absorbed in the task that one 
forgets all about the attention or any of the other mental 
processes which are involved in the work. The student en- 
gaged in mental work needs to think about his attention 
only when he finds it to be wandering from the subject, 
and then only long enough to bring it back. He must learn 
instantly to detect the wanderings of his attention, but apart 
from such watchfulness can leave his attention to take care 
of itself. 

Confidence stimulates effort. It is necessary to under- 
stand further certain of the conditions which underlie the 
application of effort in the performance of any task, or in 
learning. We cannot apply effort merely by saying to our- 
selves, "Now I will exert my greatest effort." The applica- 
tion of effort depends on other conditions of mind than mere 
resolve, and one of these is a certain degree of confidence in 
one's ability to succeed in the task which is undertaken. 
Confidence in one 's ability results in the stimulation of 



306 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

one's mental and physical power and in the release of en- 
ergy for the task. The consciousness of failure and the ex- 
pectation of failure, on the other hand, result in a drying 
up of the sources of one's energy entirely independently of 
one's desire or intention. 

Consciousness of success is the most effective basis of 
confidence. Confidence is based upon previous success. 
However one may endeavor to work up artificially a feeling 
of confidence, one is always influenced to some degree by pre- 
vious failure or success in this particular sort of work, or in 
work in general. As a consequence of this fact it is necessary 
that the work of the child be so managed that he shall 
possess the required degree of confidence in his ability. This 
means that we should gauge the task which is set for the 
child so that it is within his ability to perform it. One who 
has driven horses knows that in order to get from them the 
greatest effort of which they are capable, it is necessary to 
avoid trying to force them to pull at a load which is beyond 
their capacity. When they have once felt that the load is 
beyond their power, they cannot be induced to put forward 
their best efforts. This paralyzing effect of failure is evident 
in the case of children who have to repeat a grade. It is a 
matter of common observation that such children never work 
so hard as those who are taking the grade for the first time. 
Children who have failed in part of their work have been 
found to do better work if they were promoted than if they 
were made keenly conscious of their failure by being forced 
to repeat a grade. We may sum up this matter by saying 
that it is necessary to maintain the worker's good-will in 
order to get the full expenditure of effort. 

It is a mistake to make an overdraft on good-will. This 
principle should be applied in the arrangement of a program. 
The notoriously futile character of New Year's resolutions is 
due to the fact that one makes altogether too large a draft 



MENTAL ECONOMY AND HYGIENE 307 

upon his good-will. One sets out to revolutionize his life at 
a stroke, and as a matter of course soon finds that such an at- 
tempt is entirely beyond human power, and therefore gives 
up the whole matter. In determining upon any new course 
of action, or in deter mi ning upon any form of effort, it is 
better to be somewhat conservative and to underestimate 
one's ability than to go to the opposite extreme. 

The atmosphere of success is a potent source of confi- 
dence. Confidence is based, not merely upon one's previ- 
ous success, but also to a large extent upon the atmosphere 
in which one works. One gains confidence to some extent 
through contagion or suggestion from others. It is a matter 
of common observation that one plays a better game with 
good players than with poor players. In the first case the 
atmosphere causes the player to expect to do the right rather 
than the wrong thing, and he falls in with this expectation. 

The attempt to avoid failure must not be allowed to pro- 
duce softness. What has been said about the necessity of 
success must of course not be interpreted in such a way as 
to develop a softness of mind which is utterly in opposition 
to any robust effort whatever. If the child has such a fear 
of failure that he never attempts anything in which there is 
any risk, a state of mind is produced which results in a low 
estimation of his powers and a continual fear of failing. A 
too obvious attempt to make the child's tasks so easy as to 
preclude failure simply makes him conscious of the danger 
of failing. It is necessary that he should develop the ability 
to face and overcome possible or actual failure. He must be 
able to attempt tasks which are sufficiently taxing to call out 
the highest efforts. In such cases he must occasionally meet 
failure, and must then develop the ability to surmount fail- 
ure and try again. Failure is bound to occur sometimes, en- 
tirely independently of one's responsibility, and one must be 
able to meet failure of this sort, or of any other sort. More- 



308 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

over, a child is not interested in a task which is too easy, 
which does not call for strenuous endeavor and in which 
there is absolutely no risk. 

When failure is injurious and when wholesome. How then 
shall we reconcile these apparently opposing principles? We 
may say that while the child must learn to meet failures, the 
failures must not be so frequent or so disastrous as to cause 
him to lose confidence in himself. He must be gradually led 
to endeavor to accomplish more and more difficult things, 
and the task must be suited to his powers so that, with the 
best expenditure of effort of which he is capable, he can in 
most cases succeed. He must learn to face possible failure 
and to overcome occasional failure while at the same time 
maintaining a confidence in his own ability to meet ad- 
equately the tasks which are before him. The failure must, so 
to speak, be kept outside the citadel of his real self. It must 
not produce a sense of incapacity which becomes so promi- 
nent as to prevent the expenditure of effort. But failure in a 
task which is within the child's power is often necessary in 
order to arouse him from a complacent and indolent frame of 
mind and to stimulate him to exert himself. 

4. Nervousness 
We have been considering some of the special conditions 
which govern one's efficient adaptation to the task in hand. 
There are conditions outside the learner such as the proper 
organization of work into periods, and inner conditions, such 
as the proper application of effort, which are of importance. 
There is also an attitude of mind which hinders our adapta- 
tion, and which is to be treated not as related to special 
aspects of the organization of the work, but rather as a 
general mental condition which is to be treated by general 
measures. This general condition is an inner state of the 
mind which is not produced by special outward circum- 



MENTAL ECONOMY AND HYGIENE 309 

stances but which is characteristic of all one's mental op- 
erations. This condition is nervousness. 

Illustration from a case of temporary nervousness. This 
does not refer to a temporary nervous condition which may 
arise under special responsibility, but rather to a more per- 
manent condition which affects the whole mental life. The 
characteristics of nervousness in general, however, may be 
illustrated by the temporary condition with which all are 
familiar. Suppose that one is to make a public speech, or 
engage in a public contest which is out of the usual for him, 
and which causes nervousness. The characteristics of such a 
state of mind well illustrate nervousness in general. Abnor- 
mally intense feelings are aroused by the occasion. There is 
an anxiety as to the possibility of performing the task in a 
proper way. There is an exaggerated fear of failure and of 
the unpleasant consequences which would result from fail- 
ure. This fear and anxiety leads one to think of all sorts of 
mishaps which may produce failure, of all sorts of ways in 
which something may be done wrong. The mind is abnor- 
mally active in producing trains of thoughts of impending 
disaster. One is incapable of controlling these thoughts so as 
to keep the mind on the task which is to be performed. This 
means that the nervous condition itself produces the result 
which is feared. There is also a hesitating, wavering, state of 
mind which makes it difficult to come to any decision. There 
is the scatter-brain type of conduct which one commonly 
associates with a nervous person. As a result of all this, a per- 
son loses very greatly in efficiency because he cannot direct 
his thought or his actions consistently toward any one aim. 

Neurasthenia is nervousness which is caused primarily by 
physical debility. This gives a rough picture of the condition 
of a nervous person in general. Before going into a more de- 
tailed account it is necessary to distinguish two different 
kinds of nervousness. The symptoms are in many respects 



310 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

very much the same, but the causes and the mode of treat- 
ment differ in the two varieties. The first type of nervous- 
ness is physical in its origin, is caused perhaps by an im- 
proper kind or amount of food, by lack of proper rest, by 
overwork, or by unfavorable conditions of various sorts. 
These conditions result in the depletion of energy in the 
nervous system. The condition is then primarily a physical 
one. This depleted condition of the nervous system results 
in the mental symptoms which are characteristic of nervous- 
ness. This type of nervousness is called " neurasthenia," 
and the remedy for it is a change in the conditions which 
have brought it about. Ordinarily rest is required and such 
a regimen of life, including proper food, rest, and exercise, 
that the patient will be built up physically. When this is 
done the mental symptoms will disappear. 

Psychasthenia is nervousness due to bad mental habits. 
Modern specialists in nervous diseases have distinguished 
another cause of nervousness and have given to it the name 
*' psychasthenia." Psychasthenia, as distinguished from 
neurasthenia, is mental in its origin. It is fundamentally the 
acquirement of bad mental habits. These may be acquired 
without any assignable physical cause. There probably is, 
however, a predisposition to them in the inherited character- 
istics of the nervous system. They are often produced in 
whole or in part by the association with other persons from 
whom the child imitates bad mental habits as they appear 
in the conduct of other persons. The remedy in such a case 
is education. While in the former type it is usually necessary 
to rest, in the latter case it is rather necessary to occupy the 
patient in light, but regular work, which engages his atten- 
tion and prevents his dwelling upon those ideas which pro- 
duce anxiety and too much thought about himself. 

Treatment should be preceded by a diagnosis by a com- 
petent physician. If a child exhibits signs of nervousness it 



MENTAL ECONOMY AND HYGIENE 311 

is first necessary that a diagnosis be made in order that it 
may be determined whether the nervousness is of mental or 
physical origin, because the treatment which should be given 
will depend entirely upon this diagnosis. The teacher is not 
in a position to make such a diagnosis nor to prescribe treat- 
ment in detail. Such diagnosis and prescription must be 
made by a competent physician. It is, however, desirable 
that the teacher should know what the symptoms and the 
forms of treatment for such nervous conditions are, in order 
that he may detect the extreme cases and call the attention 
of the parents or of the school authorities to them, and in 
order that he may intelligently carry out such forms of 
treatment as may be possible in the school. 

Important symptoms — (i) undue emotional excitement. 
We may illustrate further a few of the symptoms which have 
already been mentioned in order to make it possible to rec- 
ognize the more extreme cases of nervousness. The first of 
these is undue emotional excitability. A nervous person tends 
to go to an extreme in any of the emotions. He may be unduly 
fearful, may give way to fits of extreme anger, or may be 
unduly excited to joy by some trivial event of his experience. 
Whenever the child seems to exhibit an emotion which is 
out of proportion to the occasion for it, it is appropriate to 
inquire whether he may not be suffering from nervousness. 

(2) Fluent thought of possible evil. Along with this undue 
emotional excitability, goes an unusually fluent train of 
association of certain kinds of ideas. These ideas are con- 
cerned particularly with some possible injury to one's self or 
to those to whom one is closely related. A nervous person 
is particularly adept in anticipating all possible calamitous 
consequences of everyday happenings. 

(3) Self -centered attitude. It will be noticed that the fears 
and anxieties and ideas of the person afflicted with nervous- 
ness center about himself, and as a result of these facts the 



312 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

nervous person is notoriously self -centered. This may or may 
not appear in the form of selfishness. It may appear as self- 
condemnation and self-abnegation. 

(4) Indecision. The too fluent trains of associations which 
characterize the nervous person, leading him to think of all 
sorts of unpleasant consequences of any proposed course of 
action, make it very difficult for him to make up his mind to 
any course of action. Therefore one of the most common 
symptoms of nervousness is indecision. The training in de- 
cision of persons who are disposed to nervousness has been 
found useful. One method is to require him to play checkers 
and to decide on each move within some definite, short in- 
terval of time. 

Foster's maxims for acquiring decision. J. Foster, in his 
Essay on Decision of Character, gives a number of practical 
rules which indicate how stability and firmness of decision 
may be cultivated. The most important of his rules are: 

(1) Gain an adequate knowledge of the enterprises which are 
to be undertaken. This gives confidence in the justness of 
one's decisions and makes it unlikely that facts will be en- 
countered that will make it necessary to reverse them. 

(2) Form the habit of thinking through all questions which 
come up for decision by following out a connected train of 
thought to a conclusion. Do not be swayed by the considera- 
tion which happens by chance to be uppermost at the mo- 
ment. (3) After forming a decision promptly commit your- 
self to it by definite action, which, if possible, makes a 
reversal of the decision difficult. Knit together resolution 
and action so closely that no gap between them appears. 
The whole essay is stimulating and instructive. 

(5) A sense of weariness and incapacity for work. The 
anxiety and emotional excitability of the nervous person un- 
duly arouses his nervous system and results in a permanently 
excited or stimulated condition. This frequently results in 



MENTAL ECONOMY AND HYGIENE 313 

insomnia or disturbed sleep which further weakens the nerv- 
ous system. The nervous system in such cases is not merely 
aroused to respond to the demand upon it, but is excited 
when there is no demand, or out of proportion to the de- 
mand, and thereby wastes energy. As a result, the person so 
afflicted has a continual feeling of fatigue and of inefficiency, 
and this feeling is heightened by his inability to keep his 
mind upon his work. The whole condition renders the 
afflicted person incapable of the normal amount of work. 
This incapacity may be due entirely to conditions which are 
mental in their origin and may not be due to any permanent 
physical incapacity whatever. 

5. Treatment of nervous children 
Those who govern the child must be self-controlled. The 
remedy for these conditions will depend, as has been said, 
upon the type of nervousness. We may dwell here upon the 
type of training which is chiefly suited to the person whose 
nervousness is mental in origin. In the first place, it is nec- 
essary, in order that the child may be trained to healthy 
mental habits, that those who surround him shall them- 
selves have the healthy mental attitude. As nervousness may 
be caused in a child by imitating nervous people, so nervous- 
ness may be overcome in him by having persons to imitate 
who themselves are calm and collected in their thinking and 
their actions. The child must be treated entirely as a person 
who is sick in mind and not as a person who is obstinate or 
willful or bad in any moral sense. This makes it doubly nec- 
essary that the person who has the child in care shall him- 
self be able to control completely his own feelings and re- 
actions toward what the child may do. The child must never 
be punished for actions which are the expressions of nervous- 
ness, since this does no good whatever, but merely accen- 
tuates the difficulty. 



314 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

The child's attention must be directed away from his 
ailment. Besides having proper models for imitation, it is 
necessary that the child have the correct mental attitude 
suggested to him. He must not be led to think of himself as 
nervous, or hear the word nervousness mentioned. Since nerv- 
ousness is in a large measure induced by self-examination 
and too keen a sense of one 's self, it is desirable that the 
child should come to develop an attitude of mind which is 
objective instead of self -centered, and this necessitates that 
he shall not have his attention called to his condition or be 
led to think that it is in any way abnormal. 

Overstrain must be avoided. The demands which are 
made upon the nervous child should be suited with particular 
care and discrimination to his abilities. It is necessary that 
all overstrain or overwork shall be avoided. This means that 
he shall not be unduly stimulated, — for example, by com- 
petition, — but that his energy should be called forth by his 
interest in the work which he is performing rather than by 
any external excitement. It does not mean, however, that 
the child shall be excused from work. Regular occupation 
is one of the necessary conditions for the recovery of mental 
health. 

The child must not be overindulged. Although the child 
must not be overstimulated, and too strenuous demands 
must not be made upon him, he must at the same time not 
be indulged. Overindulgence is perhaps worse than over- 
stimulation, or at least as bad, since it leads to the self -cen- 
tered and self-indulgent attitude which is the soil for all the 
imaginary ills which affect the neurasthenic or psychas- 
thenic person. The external conditions for physical health 
must of course be maintained with special care in the case 
of the nervous child. 

An abundance of outdoor activity is essential. The value 
of outdoor exercise as a general measure of hygiene through 



MENTAL ECONOMY AND HYGIENE 315 

its stimulating effect upon circulation, appetite and assimila- 
tion of food, and the elimination of waste products from the 
body — and as a consequence of this bodily effect its promo- 
tion of mental energy and health — is unquestioned. The 
value of the outdoor regime is double in the case of children, 
because it is during the period of childhood that the physical 
and mental character is largely being moulded. Right bodily 
and mental habits formed during childhood are valuable in- 
surance against breakdown in later life. In the case of nerv- 
ous children plenty of outdoor life is imperative, since they 
have multiplied need of every possible help in maintaining 
stability and self-control. 

The older child must be taught to order his life rationally. 
As the child grows older he must be taught to take himself 
in hand resolutely and govern and direct his conduct and his 
life in a rational manner. He must learn to keep his mind en- 
gaged in healthy thoughts and to combat his fears and anxi- 
eties by turning away from them, and by using reason and 
common sense. He must learn to keep himself occupied in 
vigorous work, and at the same time to adopt a rational 
program so that the work shall be alternated with recreation 
and exercise and a proper amount of sleep. He must learn, 
in general, to look upon himself as something objective which 
needs rational treatment and to resolutely give liimself the 
sort of treatment which he needs. 

Summary. We have endeavored to show in this chapter 
how one may most effectively govern or direct his mental 
processes and his program of life so as to accomplish his work 
with the greatest economy and the highest degree of mental 
health, and how the same principles may be applied to the 
development of efficient habits of the child. Some of the con- 
ditions of efficiency have to do with special circumstances, 
and some have to do in a more general way with one's mental 
health and one's general attitude. The whole matter may be 



316 HOW CHILDREN LEARN 

summed up by saying that the aim of the conduct of one's 
mind is the most efficient adaptation possible to the condi- 
tions of one's life. This adaptation can be attained in some 
circumstances through special organization of one's time or 
one's energy. In other cases it is a more general matter, and 
involves the attainment of a healthy mental attitude. The 
intelligent application of these principles depends not merely 
upon an appreciation of their truth in general, but also upon 
an individual study of each case, and an application of the 
principles in detail in such a way as to meet the needs of each 
case. 

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION 

1. Tell briefly what you understand by fatigue, weariness, and mental 
and physical fatigue. 

2. Give illustratioris~from your experience to show that the course of 
mental fatigue is not entirely simple. 

3. Name two kinds of mental work, one of which appears to be more and 
the other less seriously affected by fatigue. 

4. Would you talk to the child about being tired? If so under what cir- 
cumstances? 

5. Mention any general rules for planning work, rest, recreation, and food 
that you think are valid. 

6. Qualify the statement that healthy-mindedness requires preoccupa- 
tion with the present. 

7. Describe any external conditions that you have found either a help or 
a hindrance to concentration. 

8. Why do somewhat different principles apply to rapidity of improve- 
ment as compared with amount of accomplishment? 

9. Distinguish in your own experience between beneficial and harmful 
effort. 

10. Is a winning or a losing team more apt to succeed, irrespective of their 
real strength? Why? 

11. Describe individual differences in self-confidence which need to be 
taken into account. 

12. What sort of treatment of a nervous child is safe whatever the origin of 
his nervousness may be? 

13. Where should a nervous child's attention be directed? 

14. Does outward calm always indicate real self-control? 



MENTAL ECONOMY AND HYGIENE 317 



SELECTED REFERENCES 

Barker, L. F. Principles of Mental Hygiene Applied to the Management of 

Children Predisposed to Nervousness. (National Committee for Mental 

Hygiene, 50 Union Square, New York.) 
Dubois, P. The Psychic Treatment for Nervous Disorders. Translated by 

S. E. Jeliffe. (Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1909.) 
Foster, J. Essay on Decision of Character. (Bonn's Standard Library.) 
Gulick, L. H. The Efficient Life. (Doubleday, Page Co., 1907.) 
Heck, W. H. "A Study of Mental Fatigue in Relation to the Daily School 

Program"; in Psychol. Clinic, vol. 7, pp. 29-34, and 258-60. (1913-14.) 
James, Wm. Talks to Teachers. (Holt, 1902.) 

Kirby, T. J. Practice in the Case of School Children. (Teachers College Con- 
tributions to Education, no. 58. 1913.) 
Kraepelin, E. "Die Arbeitskurv " ; in Philosophische Studien, vol. 19. 

(1902.) 
Mosso, A. Fatigue. Translated by Margaret and W. B. Drummond. 

(G. P. Putnam's, 1904.) 
Offner, Max. Mental Fatigue. Translated by G. M. Whipple. (Warwick 

& York, 1911.) 
Thorndike, E. L. Educational Psychology, vol. 3. (Teachers College, 

Columbia University, 1913.) 
Winch, W. H. "Mental Adaptation during the School Day as Measured 

by Arithmetical Reasoning"; in Journal of Educational Psychology, vol. 

14, pp. 17-28 and 71-84. (1913.) 



INDEX 



The asterisk indicates that the term is formally defined on the page 
indicated. 



Acquired responses, 37 ff. 

Adolescence, 72*. 

Affection, 98. 

Age, changes with, 66 ff., 90/., 95 ff., 

148/., 175/., 203, 205 /., 229/., 

240/.; factors in, 244/ 
Aggressive type, 108. 
Analysis, 212, 217. 
Angell, F.', 264, 274. 
Angell, J. R., 286. 
Anger, 100/ 
Angier, R. P., ix, 17. 
Anti-social type, 110. 
Apperception, 274. 
Appleton, L. E., 76. 
Applied science, 222. 
Approbation, love of, 95. 
Association, 185 /., 188*, 194, 200, 

206/; arbitrary and logical, 190 

/.; in learning, 217. 
Attention, 140 /., 168, 255, 274, 296, 

304. 
Attitudes, 274/, 303/ 
Authority, 90. 
Ayer, F. C, 183. 

Baby talk, 118. 

Bagley, W. C, 263, 269. 

Bain, A., 260. 

Bair, J. H., 129, 139, 156. 

Baldwin, J. M., 94. 

Barker, L. F., 317. 

Beauty, appreciation of, 177. 

Binet, A., 179, 2.58. 

Binet-Simon Scale, 176/., 251/. 

Bonser, F. G., 230, 238, 258. 

Book, W. F., 145, 156, 171, 183. 

Bryan, E. B., 258. 



Bryan, W. L., 143, 144, 145, 148, 

156, 169, 183, 303. 
Burr, Aaron, 43. 

Charters, W. W., 122, 126. 
Chess playing, 216. 
Choice of studies, 283. 
Cleveland, A. A., 238. 
Colvin, S. S., 211. 
Combination of sensations, 163. 
Common elements, 270/ 
Competition, 71 / 
Concentrated practice, 195, 301 / 
Confidence, 305. 
Conn, H. W., 55. 
Construction, 69/. 
Convention in language, 115. 
Cooperative type, 109. 
Coordination, motor, 131. 
Coover, 264, 274. 
Correlation, 47/. 
Cowling, D. J., 184. 
Critical judgment, 232. 
Critics, 108. 

Culture-epoch theory, 247/ 
Curtis, Henry S., 76. 

Darwin, Chas., 229, 275, 286. 

Darwin family, 44. 

Davenport, C. B., 43, 55. 

Dearborn, W. F., 44, 55. 

Decision, 312. 

Deduction, 220. 

Defective children, 50. 

Delinquent children, 50. 

Dewey, J., 77, 94, 111, 219, 238, 

258. 
Diffusion, 130. 



320 



INDEX 



Directions, verbal, 135/. 

Discovery, 222. 

Discrimination between sensations, 

159/., 175, 180. 
Distribution of ability, 46. 
Distribution of effort, 195, 301. 
Docility, 241. 
Dramatic play, 68/. 
Drawing, 70. 
Drill, 65*. 
Drudgery, 62*. 
Dubois, P.. 317. 

Ebbinghaus, H., 196, 211. 
Edison, T. A., 227. 
Education, effect of, 50 /., 176. 
Edwards, Jonathan, 43. 
Effort, 64, 303. 
Emotions, 4, 17, 80/., 311. 
Emulation, 103. 
Ergograph, 290. 
Evil, thought of, 311. 
Execution, in learning, 136/ 
Exercise, physical, 295, 314. 
Experience and reasoning, 231; and 

mental development, 50 ff., 245 ff., 

256. 

Failure, in learning, 307. 

Fallacy, 224/ 

Fatigue, 197, 287/., 303. 

Feeling, expression of, 114. 

Feeling, in learning, 143/, 303/. 

Fiske, J., 77. 

Fletcher, J. M., 126. 

Food, 295. 

Foreign language, 122. 

Forgetting, curve of, 196/ 

Form, in learning, 136/ 

Form recognition, 166. 

Form, in learning, 136, 260. 

Foster, J., 312, 317. 

Freedom, 88. 

Galton, F., 41, 55. 
Galton family, 44. 



General responses, 9. 
General training, 260 / 
Generalization, 261. 
Gilbert, W. A., 176. 
Gilbreth, F. B., 138. 
Goddard, H. H., 43, 55. 
Gonnelly, J. F., 151. 
Grammar, 120/. 
Gray, W. S., 184. 
Griesbach, H., 288. 
Groos, K, 77. 
Gulick, L. H., 77, 317. 

Habit, 18, 127/, 185. 

Hall, G. S., 184, 259. 

Handwriting, 130, 153. 

Harter, N., 143, 144, 145, 148, 156, 

169, 183, 303. 
Healy, W., 50. 
Heck, W. H., 260, 268, 286, 288/., 

817. 
Herrick, C. J., ix, 36. 
Hierarchies in recognition, 169. 
Hoyt, F. S., 121, 126. 
Huey, E. B., 184. 

Ideals, in transfer, 269, 277/ 

Ideation, 21, 23. 

Imagination, 97. 

Imitation, 78/., 114/, 135/, 152. 

Indecision, 312. 

Indignation, 102. 

Individual differences, 41, 105 /., 

148/., 153/., 180/, 204, 205/, 

229/, 251. 
Induction, 220. 
Infancy, length of, 252. 
Information, in thinking, 228, 231 . 
Inheritance, 41/ 
Inhibition, 3, 7*, 130. 
Instinct, 16*/, 56/, 95/, 114, 256. 
Interference in practice, 271. 
Interest, 63*/, 254. 

James, W., 229, 300, 317. 
Jealousy, 99. 



INDEX 



321 



Judd, C. H., 36, 126, 184, 259, 261, 
262, 264, 269, 280, 286. 

King, I., 94, 111. 

Kirby, T. J., 317. 

Kirkpatrick, E. A., 77, 94, 111, 126. 

Kraepelin, E., 288, 317. 

Ladd, G. T., 36. 
Language, 52. 
Leaders, 107. 
Lee, Joseph, 77. 
Lindley, E. H., 212, 216, 239. 
Locke, John, 37, 55. 
Logic, formal, 224/ 
Lowell, A. Lawrence, 46, 55. 
Loyalty, 74. 

McDougall, Wm., 36. 94. 

Manual training, 8. 

Mark, T., 111. 

Maze, 128. 

Meek type, 108. 

Memorizing, rules for, 193 ff. 

Memory, 185*/.; efficiency in, 190 

ff.; logical and rote, 191*. 
Mental control, 277, 287/. 
Mental economy, 287 ff. 
Mental hygiene, 287/. 
Method, ideas of, 279/. 
Meumann, E., 211. 
Mill, J. S., 52, 253, 259. 
Miller, Edith, 126. 
Mirror drawing, 146. 
Models in thinking, 229. 
Montessori, M., 87, 94, 259. 
Moral development, 84, 243. 
Mosso, A., 317. 

Movement, in perception, 166, 172. 
Miiller-Lyer illusion, 157. 
Music, 160. 

Nascent stages, 246*. 
Native responses, 1, 37/., 176. 
Neptune, discovery of, 221. 
Nervous children, treatment, 313/ 



Nervous system, 11 /.; and mental 
life, 11, 34, 245, 268; axon, 24/; 
brain, 13, 30; central system, 125; 
cerebrum, 30; dendrite, 25; larger 
divisions, 11 /.; localization of 
functions in, 32/.; nerve circuits, 
13/.; nervous arcs, 13*, 19, 28/., 
35; neuron, 14* 24/., 26*; periph- 
eral system, 12; reflex arcs, 14; 
reflex circuit, 16*; sense organ, 
13*; spinal cord, 13, 28; sympa- 
thetic system, 12; synapse, 27*? 

Nervousness, 308/. 

Neurasthenia, 309. 

Obedience, 88. 
Observation, 178. 
Offner, M., 317. 
Oral expression, 123. 
O'Shea, M. V., 111. 
Overstrain, 314. 

Parker, S. C, 156, 239. 

Part method of memorizing, 202/ 

Passive, or guided performance, 138. 

Pearson, Karl, 38. 

Perception, 18/, 128, 185; develop- 
ment, 157/; processes, 159. 

Permanence of memory, 205. 

Pillsbury, W. B., 286. 

Planning work, 294/ 

Plasticity, child's, 151. 

Plateaus, 148, 170/. 

Play, 56/, 61*. 

Porter, W. T., 259. 

Practice curve, 144 / 

Prejudice, 227. 

Pressure in learning, 201. 

Precosity, 245, 253. 

Primitive man, mental development 
of, 40, 248. 

Problem solving, 212/, 215*. 

Pronunciation, 117/ 

Psychasthenia, 310. 

Punishment, 100. 

Puzzle interest. 71. 



322 



INDEX 



Radossawljewitsch, P. R., 197. 

Reading, 177, 182. 

Reasoning, 218/. 

Recall, 189, 199. 

Recapitulation, 247. , 

Recreation, 295. « 

Reflection, 6, 139/. 

Repetition, 142/., 194, 209. 

Report, 178. 

Research, 222. 

Responses, 3ff.; levels, 14/. 

Rest, 295. 

Rhythm, 132. 

Rosencranz, J. K. F., 249. 

Ross, E. A., 87. 

Rousseau, J. J., 38, 240, 259. 

Ruger, H. A., 216, 239. 

Rugg, H. O., 286. 

School grades, 44, 47. 

School subjects, 1. 

Scientific attitude, 276. 

Seashore, C, 180. 

Seeley, Levi, 249. 

Self-assertion, 78 ff . 

Self -centered attitude, 311. 

Self-feeling, positive and negative, 

105/. 
Sensation, 158. 
Sensori-motor learning, 127 /., 133 

ff-, 272. 
Sentence, 116. 
Sherrington, Chas. S., 36. 
Sidis, Boris, 253, 259. 
Simon, T. H., 258. 
Simpson, B. R., 55. 
Skill, acquisition of, 127 ff. 
Smith, Adam, 229. 
Social responses, 4*, 59, 68, 78 /., 

90 ff., 95 ff., 276. 
Social types, 105 /., 242, 256. 
Specific responses, 9, 261 ff. 
Speech, 4, 112/. 
Spencer, H., Ill, 248. 
Stages of development, 7. 
Stammering, 119. 



Stimulus, 3*. 

Stuttering, 119/. 

Success, in learning, 306. 

Suggestion, 83, 179. 

Suppleness, child's, 152. 

Swift, E. J., 137, 141, 156, 171, 184. 

Syllogism, 224. 

Symbols, recognition of, 167. 

Sympathy, 97/ 

Tait's labyrinth, 212. 
Tarde, G., 111. 
Telegraphy, 144. 
Thinking, 212/., 215*. 
Thompson, Mary H., 51, 55. 
Thorndike, E. L., 47, 55, 111, 145, 

156, 239, 259, 261, 263, 266, 267, 

269, 286, 288, 317. 
Threshold of memory, 195. 
Trabue, M. R., 233/., 239. 
Transfer of training, 260 /. 
Travers, Jerome D., 298. 
Trial and success method, 22, 133/., 

216. 
Tuttle, Elizabeth, 43. 
Twins, 42. 
Typewriting, 145. 

Uncooperative type, 109. 

Vocabulary, 125. 

Washburn, M. F., 156. 

Watt, H. J., 211, 305. 

Weariness, 290, 293/., 312. 

Wedgwood family, 44. 

Whipple, G. M., 184, 211. 

Whole method of memorizing, 202/. 

Wilson, H. B., 77. 

Wilson, G. M., 77. 

Winch, W. H., 184, 288, 317. 

Woods, F. A., 42, 55. 

Woodworth, R. S., 36, 263, 266. 

Words, 114. 

Work, 62*. 

Writing (composition), 124. 

Zeal, 49. 



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